Blood and Ink
by Sherlocked Otaku no. 42
Summary: When Dan's brother dies he takes in his niece who turns out to be a lot like Dan with one exception.She doesn't like the Keene act and is willing to risk it all to help a certain vigilante clean up New York City.If he'll let her of course.R/OC r&r plz!
1. Chapter 1

Hi there, and welcome to my first Watchmen fic. I have a small idea for another one or two, but for right now, it's just this one. Because this is a new way of writing for me, I'll tell you what I'm doing. First off, for the pleasure of all you crazy fan girls out there, (or, perhaps, crazy gay fan guys, doesn't really matter), I'm going to use the same technique that Twilight uses. That's right, there's a technique. The young lady I put in here won't ever be physically described any more than she has to be, which will make it easier for you peeps to insert yourself into her position if you want. Obviously, we all know what Rory looks like, so you can picture him that way. I mean, I guess there's _some_body out there who would like to be, you know, the same as Alex gets to be with him. I guess. There's always one person at least. So, I'm doing that. Also, the story, while mainly told in third person, will shift to first person unexpectedly for the occasional journal or diary entry, so don't be surprised when that happens. And I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I might do things from various folks' POV, in third person also, not just Alexandra's and Rorschach's. Kay? So, there you have it. Enjoy!

Oh, and I own nothing, of course. XD

Blood and Ink

1

The hum of the airplane's engines nearly lulled Daniel to sleep. The only reason why they didn't was because he was headed to his brother's funeral._(note: whether or not he even has a bro, I don't know, but for the sake of this story, he does.)_ He was quite upset, obviously. He had known he had heart problems, but the doctor had said, last he heard, that they were, more or less, under control. Then again, he and Andrew never really talked that much, even though they were brothers. Andrew was like their father. He never really agreed with Dan's choice of... what to call it? Occupation? Way of life? If running around at night in a mask could be called either of those.

His heart, though, was not what had killed him, although it had played a role. The house had burned down with him inside. Smoke inhalation and sudden stress had caused his heart to act up, and he had fallen unconscious before he could make it to the door. The flames had done the rest. By the time the fire department had gotten there, they couldn't make it inside on time, as the flames had blocked the doorway. About ten minutes later, Andrew's daughter, Alexandra, had come home from work to find her house a blackened mess, and her father dead. The police had called him when she had been asked about any relatives. She had given them his name, but didn't know his phone number, so it had taken them a few hours to reach him. Having no other relatives who could take her in, as her mother and grandparents on both sides of the family were long gone, she was to be coming home with him. He had straightened out the house as best he could while in such a depressed mood, and then had left on the next flight to Maine, where his brother had moved in the hopes of having a better environment to raise a family in. He hadn't visited much after that, and Daniel didn't learn he had a niece until almost a year after she had been born, when Andrew had brought his family down for their first and last holiday visit. He came down very rarely afterward, particularly after Dan had become Nite Owl, but always alone. And now he was going up there to say farewell to his brother for the last time. He sighed and stared out of the window as the plane neared his destination, wondering why he hadn't just rented a car. He answered his own question with 'New York traffic, of course', and then closed his eyes for the rest of the journey.

He barely recognized his niece at the funeral. In fact, he probably would have wandered around all day looking for her if she hadn't been the one that remained so close to the urn in which his brother had been placed. Apparently, he had been so badly burned that cremation had nearly already occurred, it was simply a matter of completing the job for the sake of those who would be present. There were people that were telling her how sorry they were, and how wonderful a man her father had been and so on and so forth. She looked just like him, with the exception that she, like Daniel, had to wear glasses in order to see properly. It made him smile inside, to see his brother in the form of the man's daughter, and made him feel as though he might still be around, if only in her spirit. In all honesty, he knew nothing about how much like her father she was, though, or anything else about her for that matter. He knew she would be about twenty-two, as he had been very young when she was born, from what he could recall. It was sad that he didn't even remember how long ago she had been born, really. But that was all. He felt bad for it, as though it had been his fault they never spoke. He knew it wasn't, that after his mother had died the family had just sort of drifted apart, but it still made him feel mildly responsible. After he chose to don a mask and cape, his family had basically disowned him. And now here he was, and the only reason he was here at all was because Alexandra had, somehow, remembered his name. If she had not, he might have spent the rest of his life thinking his brother was still living.

The ride home was very quiet and subdued, since both of them were upset, and neither of them knew the other well enough to try and speak. By the time they got back to his apartment all he had gotten out of her was a very small smile that hadn't reached her eyes. He showed her the guest room, where she would be staying, and, after a long, awkward pause, he said to her, "Um... So... Why don't you just, uh... Unpack your things, and... I can, uh... Try and make us some dinner. Okay?" She simply looked at him and gave him that small, incomplete smile again. There was another pause. "Is there anything in particular that you'd like? I can see what I have..."

"No. whatever you can fix up is fine." They were the first words he had gotten out of her after their uncertain hello, which had occurred before the plane ride, and he could barely hear it.

"Oh. Uh, okay. Um... So, uh... Make yourself at home, then. I'll... Start cooking, and you can just come on out when you're ready." This sounded very stupid to him, even as he spoke it, but it was all he could think of. After receiving another incomplete smile, and a small thank you, he nodded and left, closing the door behind him out of politeness. Outside the door, he puffed out some air, running a hand through his hair, feeling miserable, and then continued to the kitchen, realizing after a moment that he was not a very good cook.

On the other side of the door, Alexandra Dreiberg looked around at her small bedroom, uncertain of anything, and then eventually placed the one bag of the things the fire crew had managed to salvage from the remains of her home on the bed, sitting on the end. She stared down at her lap silently, wondering why, when she still felt like crying, the tears wouldn't come.

A/N: Okay, well, that was the first chapter. I won't continue if people don't think it's any good, but thank you for reading anyways. Hope you enjoyed that, thanks! And Happy Holidays! ~NS~


	2. Chapter 2

Um... hi! I figured I could do a second chapter while I'm awake and bored... If this isn't any good, my apologies, but I thought this up and figured, why not? Anyways, enjoy, as usual. Sorry for the slowness this has so far... Read on, then!

2

It had been about two weeks since his brothers' passing, and so far he had found out very little about Alexandra. He knew that she seemed to have learned how to cook from her mother or grandmother, because, in an attempt to occupy her time, she would look through the cabinets, scrounge through the food he had there, and would put together a really good meal. She was shy, like himself, but he wasn't sure if that was something that was normal for her, or if it was simply because they didn't know one another well enough for her not to be. She had a slightly moderate taste in clothing, everything she wore simply consisted of a t-shirt and jeans usually, and most of the time she would have her hair in a ponytail on one side of her head. She had pierced ears. And she was twenty-three, not twenty-two. So, when she was born, he was about seven or eight years old. She had worked as a bank teller back home, and after her mother had died, she had taken over the care of the household and of her father. Because both of her parents had worked in offices for long hours, she said they never really seemed to get along as well as they should as a married couple. It wasn't that they fought, it was simply that they were rather less talkative than you would expect and weren't as close as she remembered them being when she was little. When her mother got sick, she had to go to a hospital, and died there, her daughter and husband by her side. She didn't know why he had never been invited to the funeral.

And that was all he knew. So, after a while, Dan decided that it was time to take her with him when he went to get the groceries, and that they might as well stop somewhere where she could get new clothes. He had to get to her somehow. And besides, she had already worn the same shirt twice, and seemed to only have two pairs of jeans, and one of those was a bit burned at the cuffs and had a few tears in them. He wondered why she still had them. It was when he looked in the fridge and saw that his last gallon of milk was almost gone, both loaves of bread were gone, and there were only a few cans of things left after their lunch that day that he came up with the idea.

He found Alex in the living room. She had taken to shyly exploring his homes' contents in the past couple of days, and today she was looking at a few of the little decorative knick-knacks scattered about the house. He didn't have many, but collecting some was a slightly womanish habit he had... He was about to ask her if she would come with him when he noticed something. On a shelf on one side of his living room, where he kept some of his books, there was a two or three inch tall glass owl figurine. It was finely detailed, and very realistic looking. It was a barn owl. It was also being handled very carefully by his niece, who was looking at it with an appreciative smile on her face. She... well, she liked it. He blinked, startled at the small recognition of the figurine as a birthday present from his predecessor. And then realized that she had never been in the basement, and he hadn't told her a word about what he'd done before now. Ah.

She glanced in his direction, noticed that he was there, and then quickly put the owl back in its exact place. "Sorry..."

"Huh? Oh, that? Don't worry about it."

She smiled softly. "I like owls," she said, casting another look at what she had been holding and then smiling again at him.

That surprised him a tiny bit. "You do?"

"Uh-huh. They live in the woods behind my old house. I used to listen for them sometimes."

He chuckled a little. "I like them too." And she smiled at him again, this time fully and for real. It made him rather happy. "Hey... I was wondering if you wanted to go out and get some new clothes. You need some, right?"

"Oh. Yeah, okay."

"Cool. Oh, we'll have to go grocery shopping too, is that okay?"

"Yup. I'll get my coat." And she went off to her room.

While she did that, Dan walked over to the owl figurine she had been admiring and picked it up. He looked in the direction she'd gone, and then chuckled again, shaking his head at the little thing and putting it back on its shelf. Well, there was one thing he had in common with her... owls. She liked owls. He wondered if, maybe... But that was stupid. He couldn't expect to be able to tell her what he used to do so early on in the game. If this was a scenario that could be called a game... What was he supposed to do if she didn't like the idea? Or, hell, what if she did? She was coming back, so he moved back into the kitchen and slipped on his shoes. He looked up in time to see her do something she had never done in his company before. On the counter by the sink was the little tin in which he kept the sugar cubes. She went over and looked inside, seemingly checking to see how much was left in case they needed any more. "That's almost gone, too." And, with that, she made her next action, and it made him blink, pleasantly surprised. She picked one out, unwrapped it, and proceeded to pop it into her mouth like candy. When she saw him looking at her she smiled shyly. "What?"

He laughed. "Nothing. Anyways, let's go." And that was the last thing he learned about his niece during that day. However, for some reason, he felt a lot more at ease talking to her, and she with him, and they held an actual conversation or three during the whole shopping trip. By the time they came home, it was as if they had always been on such good terms, and neither one of them was too shy about speaking to the other after that. In three more weeks, he learned that they liked the same music, the same TV shows, the same movies, and the same books. It was as though he were looking at himself, only female. It was the strangest, yet most amusing thing he had ever seen.

And then, one night, she met Rorschach.

-

The streets, as always, were filthy. No amount of rain, snow, or anything else could ever clean them, could ever clean the blood out of the gutters, out of the alleyways, out of the city. Even the air smelled of death tonight. Rorschach stood at the top of a building looking down. He was waiting. He had already disposed of three criminals tonight, but he had only been out for a few hours. It had not been long enough yet, and he had not rid the streets of enough scum to satisfy him for the night. It was windy. A couple of the bottom buttons of his trench coat had been ripped off, and it flapped around him a bit. Buttons could easily be replaced, it was nothing to worry about. He stood there and continued to wait, impatient, adrenaline still coursing through his veins. The night was not yet over. There were more innocents waiting to be saved. But why so few tonight? He caught a sound, a woman screaming, and disappeared from the rooftop.

She had managed to escape enough to run. A missing shoe and a torn dress were what she had to show for her struggle. She was not from New York, her entire person showed this. She was either visiting, or new. They pinned her against a wall, and proceeded to rip open her clothing. And then their laughter stopped, as one of the two of them suddenly was gone from the others' side. There was a cry of pain, shut off after a few thumps and crunches. There was blood on the wall, and the dead man, his head smashed open at the back, slid down to the ground. The woman was released and her savior told her to run. She didn't need to be told twice. She was gone in an instant, after choking out a thank you, the first one he had gotten in a very long time.

The first man had been a disappointing one. Rorschach had finished him off to quickly, and it annoyed him. So he gave the second one at least a fraction of a fighting chance, one which he lost after exactly four minutes and fifteen seconds. He, however, had left a mark. A concealed knife had been plunged into Rorschach's side, missing anything vital, but still a danger to him. He leaned against the wall that had killed both criminals, gasping in pain, applying as much pressure as he could, and considering his situation. He could not go home like this. They would follow the blood trail from wherever he chose to go inside to his apartment and find him there. He was also in danger of bleeding to death. A hospital was out of the question. He had no nearby refuge to take that could hold anything he might have been able to patch himself up with, and even so, he would need rest immediately after. If he sewed himself up he would reopen the wound on the way back. He gritted his teeth. This was not not a wound he could ignore. So, reluctantly, he turned and painstakingly made his way to the home of a man he had not seen in a very long time. It started to rain.

A/N: Okay, I guess I'll leave it at that, then. I was going for more, but if I continued this would have been a really, really long-ass chapter, so... Anyways, thanks for reading and good night! ~NS~


	3. Chapter 3

Hi again! It's me. Obviously... Anyways, this is what I was trying to shorten and put into the last chapter of this, but decided against it. So you know. So yeah, I'll shut up now... Enjoy!

3

Alex woke up. She blinked while her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. Something felt... strange. There was some kind of feel to the atmosphere that she was not familiar with. She stared at the wall across from her and listened to absolute silence, broken only by the cars outside her window. Other than that, she heard nothing. But it wasn't a peaceful silence. It was the type of silence one would expect a bird or a small rodent to hear just before they were pounced on by a cat. Silence that was very loud.

She had never believed in ghosts, nor had she ever believed in monsters, boogeymen, or demons of any kind. Her father had pretty much poured it into her head that these things had never, and would never exist. And she didn't feel afraid now. She felt... Uncertain. She waited a bit longer and then, very quietly and slowly, she sat up and looked ahead of her. Before she stood, before she even took off her blankets, she reached over to the nightstand beside her bed and felt around for her glasses, never taking her eyes off her bedroom door. What the hell had woken her up? She put the glasses on, and still she didn't move. When she finally did, she did so with as little noise as possible. She paused, suppressing a shiver that shot through her spine from the feel of cold wood under bare feet. She stood and paused again. In fact, everything she did, with the exception of taking each step, she did with a pause immediately following.

After peering around her door she moved out into the hall and cautiously made her way forward. She looked into the kitchen and, after seeing no one there, she decided to arm herself with a frying pan that had been left in the dish drainer after she'd washed it. She thought about the knives, but decided against that. She looked out at the front door, peeking around the nearest door frame. There wasn't any sign of anyone there... And then there was a noise. It was a slight thump, followed by a pained grunt of some kind and accompanied by ragged breathing. She steeled herself, tightening her grip on the handle of the frying pan and, holding it like a bat, made her way in the direction the sounds were coming from. She stopped walking when she realized it was coming from the basement. Instead of the panicked thoughts one might expect, however, one rudely worded phrase was thought. _What the fuck?_

The basement. There was someone in the basement. She had never gone down there, and at this point she quietly wondered why she hadn't. Uncle Danny had never said anything about the basement, let alone whether or not she could go into it. She had simply associated a basement in New York City with rats, and her femininity made is so she never touched it. She took a breath as something incoherent was mumbled by the person downstairs, and continued on, her knuckles turning white from holding onto the pan handle so tightly. She was at the door now, and she found she was unable to move for the time being. Whoever it was, he was coming up the stairs. Her heart pounding, she reached for the door handle. Before she touched it, it flung open and someone fell on the floor in front of her. She allowed herself only a gasp and a small jump before preparing to strike... And then didn't.

There was blood. On the floor, coming from this persons' side, there was blood, and his hand was pressed against the wound. Her eyes widened, and she was suddenly at a loss. An injured person had come to her uncles' house? Why? And why through the basement? _How _had he gotten here through the basement? She let her hands slowly drop to her side, still holding the would-be weapon, but not as tightly. She stared at this strange, injured... _smelly_ person on the floor and still did not know what to do. And then her breath caught in her throat as he looked up. He didn't have a face? No, wait... A mask? It was a black and white mask, and the patterns on it writhed and slithered around it... it was, honestly, fascinating to watch.

He couldn't tell who he was looking at. As far as Rorschach knew, Daniel had never had a female present in his house before. At least not this late. His vision was blurring... It was getting dark... "Get Daniel," he gasped, and then passed out.

Alex dropped the pan on the floor and took a step back, surprised again. She dropped to the floor next to him and touched him, not fully certain about what she should do yet, and not having fully processed what he had said to do. He was bleeding badly, and now he was unconscious. She looked at him a little longer, trying to decide if she should bring him to at least the couch or something, if she might be able to do something at all. After a few moments, she pushed her hair back and got up quickly, running to her uncles' door. It was unlocked, thank God, but then, why wouldn't it be? She ran to his bedside and shook him. "Uncle Danny! Uncle Danny, get up! There's a guy here, wake up!" She gave him just enough time to sit up and groggily ask her what was wrong, putting on his own glasses and waking up entirely when he saw her face before she continued.

"What's wrong?"

"Some guy just came upstairs, and he's bleeding, and he told me to get you, but he passed out, and—"

"Wait, slow down, what?"

She took a breath. "There's a guy in the hallway. He's hurt and he passed out after he told me to get you."

"Guy, what're you... Wait..." He paused and then got up in a hurry, rushing toward the basement. Alex decided not to wonder how he knew where the man had come from and followed him. When he got to the man on the floor, he cussed and dropped next to him, lifting him as best he could and then bringing him to the living room. Without being told to, Alex ran and turned on the light, leaning over the back of the couch and helping her uncle lie him down there. "I need to get pressure on this... Get the kit from Archie," Dan said on instinct, starting to unbutton his friends' coat, and then realized who he was talking to.

"What? Get the what? Where?"

"Ah. Never mind, sorry... Here, I'll get it. I know he doesn't exactly smell like roses, but could you get his coat and shirt off? And then get pressure on his wound, use that blanket, I can wash it later. Can you do that?" Without listening to the stuttered, confused answer he got, he rushed downstairs.

Alex stopped talking, knowing he hadn't heard her, and then looked nervously at the guy on the couch. What was she supposed to do? Get his coat off? But he reeked... He was also hurt. Biting her lip, she went to him. She swallowed, and proceeded to attempt to remove his coat, trying to be as polite as she could to the unconscious form. His arms out and the coat lying behind him, she started to unbutton his shirt, and when that came undone she started to take his arms out of that, too, and then abruptly jumped up when her uncle came back, glad to be able to breathe again, and let him proceed. She never said a word, just handed him what he asked for and watched what he did. The blood didn't gross her out or anything, but most of the time she occasionally found herself glancing up to watch the shapes on the mans' mask move around. Something told her it should not be removed, otherwise she was sure it would have been taken off already.

After a while, Daniel sighed and wiped off his forehead, leaning back from his work. He had cleaned and stitched up the wound, and it looked like all was going to be well. She waited for him to finish cleaning up before asking quietly, "Uncle Danny?"

He looked at her as though seeing her for the first time. "Yeah? Oh..." She didn't need to finish her impending question for him to know what it was.

She asked something else, though, first. "Is... that guy gonna be okay?"

He looked at him and said, "Yeah... I hate to say it, but he's had worse... I wish he'd be a bit more careful."

She nodded. "Okay. Um... who is he?"

There was the question he had expected. "It's a long story..."

"I like long stories."

He sighed, pushed a hand through his hair, looked at Rorschach again, and then told her everything.

-

When Rorschach woke up, he was on Daniels' couch, and he had nothing on from the waist up. Aside from fresh bandages, that was. It was still night, but they had left a dim light on. He took a breath and winced, and as he did so he noticed that the smell of someones' perfume was lingering very faintly in the air around him. As though someone had been wearing it all day and hadn't washed it entirely off. There was a glass of water on the table. After a moment, he tried to get it, but found it irritated his wound. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, freezing in his place. When he opened them again, the water was being politely held out to him. By someone who was not Daniel. He looked up. A girl wearing pajamas and glasses was standing there, apparently having seen him wake up while she was passing, since he hadn't seen her at first. He was surprised to see that when he looked up, she gave him a tiny smile.

He glanced at the glass, then back up at her, and then took it. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Another smile. She was quiet. "I was coming to check on you when you woke up..."

"Hurm." He said nothing, lifted his face up to rest on his nose, and took a sip. She was watching him. He ignored that, swallowed, and then, when he decided that he might as well say something, since she was about as talkative as he was, he said, "Don't recall ever meeting you before. Friend of Daniels'?"

She paused in the middle of retrieving a blanket from somewhere and bringing it to him. "No. I'm his niece. My names' Alexandra." She gave him the blanket, and held out her hand. He nodded at it. After keeping it out for him a little while longer and realizing he wouldn't take it, she let it drop, adjusted the blanket for him, and said, "He says your name's Rorschach. It is, right?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Silence stretched.

"He's never mentioned relatives."

"Him and my dad didn't talk much after a while."

"I see." He paused again.

During this pause, he took the time to observe. She was being quiet not only out of politeness, but out of shyness also. She had an embarrassed look on her face, apparently not entirely certain about what she should do next. She was also trying not to look for long points of time at his face. She was young, and looked to be in her early twenties. Daniel must have been young when his brother had her. If the fact that she had mentioned her father and not her mother meant that he was her fathers' brother. She hadn't left yet. Fine. He supposed he should continue.

He took another sip of water, aware that the pain was ebbing. Some sort of pill must have been put in it to ease the pain when he woke up. "Just get here?"

Seemingly eager to try and talk to him, she said shyly, "Yes... Well, I got here a few weeks ago. Almost a month, I think."

"Hurm."

More silence stretched, and the medicine in the water was making him tired again. She seemed to sense this wasn't going anywhere. "Um... I guess I'll go now. Um... Uncle Danny should be checking on you in a few minutes, too, he thinks I'm asleep..." She smiled a sort of apologetic smile. "I've never had someone injured in my house before, so..." She blushed and said, "Um... Good night, then." She left.

He didn't even bother to say anything in reply, she was gone in an instant, anyway. He put his cup back on the table, having emptied it, and then settled back down under the blanket she had given him. Even though he was tired, he couldn't go back to sleep for a while longer than he would have thought. One thing kept running through his mind. When she had looked at him he had seen all sorts of different emotions. He had seen shyness, uncertainty, and generally the type of emotions that could be called quiet. The thing that confused him the most, however, was what was absent. Perhaps it was because everyone who looked at him had one or the other written all over their faces, and he was used to it by now, but he was not used to it being non-existent. What bothered him was not any of the emotions she _had_ shown, but the fact that two were missing. There had been an absence of disgust and fear. There hadn't been a drop of either in her features or her actions. He fell asleep again.

-

_Dear diary,_

_Since this is my first entry, I thought I'd make it an interesting one. Something happened today I thought I should write. You won't believe this, but some guy in a trench coat and a mask came up out of my Uncles' basement! And he was hurt and bleeding all over the place. Anyways, when he came up, all he said was to go get Daniel. So, I went to get him, obviously, and when I told him there was a guy unconscious on the floor, he knew exactly who he was and where he had come up from without my saying anything. I thought that was kinda weird, but I found out why. See, after he fixed him up, I asked him who he was, and he says his name is Rorschach and they used to be partners. So I wanted to know what he meant, and it turns out Uncle Danny used to go around at night and beat the hell out of people! I thought he was just some guy with a regular job and a girlfriend or something... He doesn't have a girlfriend, but I don't know what he does for money. He probably works on mechanical things somewhere... He says there's an airship called Archie in the basement and that he'll show me when he knows if Rorschach is gonna be better. And he had a costume, too! He says that a few years ago, there was a law passed that said all people like him should stop doing what they did and tell everybody who they are, but he hasn't told anyone who he was yet... He used to be called Nite Owl at night, when him and this guy used to go out and do that. And there's others like them, too, but Rorschach is the only one who won't stop fighting. I think that's kinda cool. I mean, if the world is going to hell all this time, then why would you stop fighting for at least one place not to? I know it's impossible to save the entire world, no one can do that, but if someone is trying, then why should we stop them? Anyways, I didn't say that, since Uncle Danny said he doesn't think he really had a choice in the matter, it was either do what they want or be killed by someone. Or arrested. I guess he has a point, but still... So, he says that he can show me an old picture of him and the other guys when he shows me his Nest. That's what he calls the basement. He's an owl, so he calls it the Nest. Go figure, right? Anyways, so I'm hoping I might be able to get to know Rorschach a little bit... He sounds cool, so, I don't know, I can try. I sound like a kid, don't I? Okay, well, that's it. Good night. _

_Alex._

A/N: Well, that was the end of that chapter, and I hope you enjoyed that! Stay tuned, I guess! See ya! ~NS~


	4. Chapter 4

Yo! I wrote some more again! And for some reason everything I say is ending in an exclamation point! Woot! Okay, read on, then.

4

Alex had come up with writing in a diary a few days after the death of her father, once she could gather her thoughts enough. She had heard that writing her feelings down would be helpful, a couple of her friends used to do it, too. They had met at work... Remembering working got her thinking, what was she supposed to do here? She would have to get a job at some point, she wasn't going to be lazy and sit around all day spending her uncles' money... But, she thought, it might be a while before she could bring herself to do that. She put out as many positive emotions as she could, but she was still upset. Her uncle was, too, she thought, but she couldn't be sure. Being reacquainted with a friend he hadn't seen in a few years seemed to have lifted his spirits some, and it made her wonder why he had quit, if he felt this way around his friend. But, having Rorschach around made her feel better, too, it gave her something to occupy her mind with. She kept wondering what he really looked like and what other things he must have done that she hadn't been told about.

For the most part she and Rorschach didn't talk. He was very quiet, more so even than herself. It was a kind of subdued quiet, though, there was nothing weird about it or anything. He didn't like to talk to Daniel much when she was in the room, and she guessed that was normal. He didn't want even his best friend to know who he was under that mask he referred to as his face, so why should he be comfortable around a complete stranger? He seemed untrustworthy of everyone. But she didn't let it bother her. She just treated him as politely as she could.

She washed his shirts and coat for him, and replaced the buttons with the ones she had on the inside of the bottom of her own coat. They were more or less the same, and buttons were the only thing she knew how to sew. She couldn't see his real face, but she was sure that behind the mask he was awfully surprised to see her bringing his clothes back to him, washed and patched up. The stitching was a little sloppy when it came to the holes in the side of his shirts where the knife had gone through, but it would hold. And the buttons were done perfectly. She had made sure of both of those things. If he were going back out to fight crime, as her uncle said he would, then she, on a motherly instinct, would not have him doing so looking like a slob. It was hard not to act motherly toward someone so... She didn't know what the right word was. Stubborn? Childish? Vulnerable? No, he wasn't vulnerable, he was just injured... Fragile? That didn't work, either, not even close. In any case, she still felt he needed someone to mother him a little bit, so she took that job up in a fashion.

And then there was the fact, that, even after a couple days, he simply would not talk much at all. He would thank her, of course, although that wasn't a constant, but other than that the words shared between them were few and far between. Daniel did have a job, apparently, but she didn't know what it was, and never really asked. Today, however, he left the care of Rorschachs' wound up to his niece, having noticed her observation. She had been watching what he did in order to learn, it was her way of learning a lot of things. She could be told what to do easily enough, but when it came to important things, she preferred to watch and take mental notes.

She had never felt so awkward in her life. When Dan left for work that day, he stated as politely and as plainly as ever that he needed to go early, and that he would appreciate it if she could change the bandages and such as needed until he came home. They had both had their complaints, but he bid them good bye and left before either got a word in. After staring at the door for a little while, they both looked at each other. Her... patient... gave her a sort of grunt, which she had gotten used to as a type of comment, and then they said nothing else. Later, though, she nearly dropped the TV tray of lunch she had made for him when she saw him sitting up and trying to stand.

She rushed over and put the tray on the table, reaching out a hand to him, but it was pushed away. This, of course, she would not stand. "Look, at least let me help you get up. What are you doing, anyways?"

"Hurm. Need to go to the bathroom. And I can get up on my own."

"Then why do you look like you're gonna pass out or something? At least take a pill for the pain or whatever... Oh, God, wait, you opened it!"

Sure enough, fresh blood stained his side. It was less than it had been when he had first been injured, but it was still blood. He looked as though the pain didn't bother him much at all. After a pause, he said, "Will be fine. Can at least make it to the bathroom. And I don't want your help getting there."

"But you hurt yourself!"

"Have had worse."

"But you should still at least have let me help you up!"

"Hurm." He continued on, ignoring her protests. He made it to his destination slowly, but apparently without any further damage to himself, but even so, she was left feeling annoyed.

"Crazy son of a bitch..." And she got out the kit again, preparing to battle with him over weather or not she could do this properly. She knew she could. She had once been jokingly referred to as a sort of Sherlock Holmes by a friend once, because if she watched something as it was done, she could do the exact same thing in a heartbeat, all her information having been gathered through what she saw. She was a fan of the Great Detective, though, and she knew damn well it would take her years of practice to learn to be as observant as he was, and besides, she was sure he never learned how to do anything like what she learned simply by observation. His mind was always busy... Maybe this guy was like that, too, a constantly busy mind? No, he was just stubborn. She would have to get used to that...

It was a while before Rorschach resigned himself to being her patient, and even when he did he was still just as stubborn. "You're stitching it wrong. It's the other way."

"Oh. Sorry."

"And tie it tightly, better than that."

"Fine..."

"It's just a simple knot, it isn't that hard."

"I know that."

"That'll be too much bandages. Cut about a quarter off."

"Yeah. Sure."

"And wrap it tighter."

"I'm trying."

"Don't knot it, just tuck it in."

She had had enough at that point. Dropping her hands, she said angrily, "You know what, you wanna do this yourself?!"

He was unfazed. "Can't. Not in a good position for that."

"Then shut the hell up and let me finish! Christ..." He shut up and let her finish. "There."

After a pause, he said, "Crooked."

"Well, you didn't give me any way to do it straight, you kept moving and snapping at me every five seconds! Stay still, then... There. Happy?"

"Hurm. This will do."

She let out an exasperated noise and turned to finish making her own lunch, pausing to say, "And at least let me help you up if you need to stand next time, alright?" He didn't give her any answer, but she hadn't been expecting him too. She ate in the kitchen.

-

Rorschach was glad she had left him alone. He had annoyed her on purpose, his dislike of women keeping him from being nice to her. For the most part. In fact, however rude and obnoxious he was to Daniel's niece, it was actually a lot less than what other women got from him. She _was_ Daniels' niece, after all. And it still had surprised him that she was neither afraid nor disgusted with him. On top of this, when she had washed his clothes, she had nicely left his grappling gun on the table for him. He had been confused when his coat and shirts were gone, but about five minutes after he woke up from the nap he had been having she came into the room with his freshly laundered clothing folded neatly in her arms, and had smiled pleasantly at him before holding them out and informing him that she had sewn up the tears and replaced the buttons on his coat. She was not good with the tears, but he could fix that himself when he went home. The buttons had looked as though they had always been there, the slight variation in color not really noticeable. But buttons were simple.

He figured he'd be out of here by next week or so, give or take a day. His wound wasn't going to be infected, and the stitches would be able to be removed soon enough. He would probably leave while neither of them were there, or at least while they were asleep. That was simply his way. He had to admit, he missed coming here, though. After arguing with Daniel when he had been told he was retiring, Rorschach had simply closed off any and all ties with the man. He had gotten used to patrolling alone all the time after he himself had slowly stopped showing up for them. He didn't need his friend knowing what had finally turned him into what he was now. Especially because it might affect Daniel as well.

It was quiet here. Much like his own home, when the neighboring family wasn't arguing, and when his landlady wasn't coming up to complain. But he was restless, and sitting on a couch watching television all day was not what he ever did, not even when he was sick. He would go to work, stay as long as he was asked, and then would go out and fight. He didn't like to be still. So, after a few days, this had become irritating. He hated having to stay still.

He glared at the news report on the screen, and then began eating. This was the best food he had ever had, in quite some time. He never really ate much, since the rent he had to pay made it hard to get sufficient food. Alexandra was a good cook, but he saw nothing else about her that interested him. He'd taken up the idea that Daniel had told her about everything, which must have been why she had no problems with him. She even looked at him in such a way that made it seem like she admired him. Not the kind of admiration that was love, but simple childlike fascination. This was particularly vexing as well as flattering. He didn't deserve to be looked at in such a way, he had never done anything that demanded admiration. It confused and humbled him. He continued to eat and watch television, paying attention only to the stories that stated the criminal involved had not been caught. There were only two, one a robbery, and the other a rape. He growled under his breath. He wanted to get out of this as soon as possible. He was growing impatient.

It _was_ very good food, though.

A/N: Okay, there you go. Not very good, but, again, if I had continued I would have written way too much here. So, hope you liked that, and have a nice day! Or night, whatever. Kay? Bye! ~NS~


	5. Chapter 5

I am so so so so sorry this took so long to write, to all of my fans, of which it appears I have many! I had to restore my whole stupid computer again, because it broke or something. Again. Anyways, I had writers' block on top of that, so to all of you, my apologies. Anyways, here is this chapter, enjoy! XD

5

Dan laughed. He was amazed at the enthusiasm his niece showed when he said he could take her up in Archie if she wanted. Rorschach had been gone for a couple of days, it had taken him about three weeks or so to heal enough in order to be able to leave. Apparently, he and Alex had gotten along, on some very obscure terms. They hadn't argued unless she was concerned about his wound and he stubbornly refused to act like he cared. The fact alone that they had not yelled at one another even once the whole time made him happy. She was probably the first person to take to his friend so quickly.

And now they were up above the city and she was practically glued to one of the windows. "It looks so pretty from up here..." she said, "I didn't think it would look like this."

"Big city. Lots of lights. And it's nighttime, so... Yeah, it is." He smiled at her.

"Can you show me what some of the buttons do?"

"Uh... Sure. Here." He gestured her to come over to the controls. She did, quite quickly, and it surprised him, but in a good way. "Okay, uh..." The only other person he had ever taught the controls to was his ex-partner. And that had been years ago, with older forms of controls. Still, he tried to remember how it was he had taught the guy. "Well, first off, this steers it. And if I hit this button it goes into autopilot. There are a few coordinates already programed in, so all I have to do is set the controls to follow that path. Like, uh... Well, here, I can put it into auto right now, and tell to go to the docks, or in that general direction." He had been manually driving until now. "And it'll just... There. Don't worry, it does that when I set it that way."

"It was supposed to jerk like that?"

"Yup."

"Okay."

"Right. Now, uh... Well, this button puts on the thrusters if we need to speed up, and normal speed controls are over here, like this. And the thrusters'll get us going faster." He put them on their lowest setting, so the speed increase wouldn't cause another sudden jolt, the way the auto had. Archie had been sitting in the basement for years, he didn't know if it could still take what it used to without being sort of warmed up for it at first.

"What's this one?"

"That? It's like a flame thrower. Almost, anyways."

"Why would you need one of those?"

"In case we were being pursued too closely."

"Oooh, okay." She paused, looking at it thoughtfully. "Can I press it?"

"Uh, well... let me get us up higher first, or we're bound to be seen by someone."

"Okay."

There was a long pause, during which time they went higher, and he showed her how he did it. When they finally got to a sufficient height, he said, "That should do it. Go ahead."

She pressed the button. Below them, a man named Bob glanced up at the brief, far away flash from the clouds, blinked at it, and then shrugged it off and continued drinking his beer.

"Cool!"

He laughed. "You liked that, huh?"

"Yeah! Can I do it again?"

"No, it can only do that once for a while."

"Okay. So what does this button do?"

-

By the end of that month, Alex and Daniel were practically best friends. They even joked around the same way best friends would, and it was true that sometimes it got them strange looks from anyone who knew they were related, but those looks never really did any harm. He took her to meet Hollis one day after he decided he'd like her. They wound up staying at his house until well past midnight, because she was so interested in the old mans' war stories, he couldn't bring himself to tell her they had to go home.

They ran into Rorschach on the way back, he was in an alley, fighting. Alex was the first one to see him from across the street, and she stopped to watch him pummel some guy into the ground. She seemed almost fascinated by the way he did it. "We should keep walking. Someone will notice us looking."

"So?" she said without taking her eyes off him. "I've never actually seen a fight before, where I lived was pretty quiet."

"If someone notices us, they'll think we know him or something."

"But we do, don't we? Oh. Oh, right, sorry." She still couldn't look away, though, and for a moment neither could he.

"Don't worry about him, he can handle himself," he told her, although he also meant to reassure himself of that one looked tough...

"I kinda figured." And then they both noticed something. A man that was out of Rorschachs' line of sight was moving toward him, a pipe of some kind in his hand. "Can he see that guy?"

She was worried. Then again... "I don't think so..." Clearly this would not end well, but before Dan could think of what to do, Alex was running across the street. He almost called out to her before following, but decided against it and ran after her silently instead.

Rorschach was surprised at the determination in the man he was fighting against. His head was already bleeding profusely, and he was sure he had broken some of his bones, but he was still fighting. The will this man had to live was incredible. Unfortunately, the fight he was in was what caused his attention to falter for a few seconds longer than was safe.

In the middle of a move, he noticed with some surprise and two seconds too late that a man was about to hit him with a lead pipe. He would not have made it in time to dodge if someone else hadn't slammed into his attacker. She stumbled back a bit from the force she had created and stood in the alley wondering what to do next. He made a further mistake by saying out loud, "Alex?!" She had told him to call her that.

He wasn't entirely certain what happened next, but the man with the pipe had heard him, and took advantage of the situation. In a second, he was behind her, and the pipe was under her neck. Rorschach froze. She made a small gasping noise as the man said, "Know each other, huh? Ain't that convenient."

"Let her go."

"Why? She your girl or somethin', huh? I didn't think you were the type."

For once, he didn't know what to do. He had never been in a situation like this before. He couldn't move, or he'd tighten the pressure on the girls' throat. He had never made so many mistakes in one night before...

Daniel.

That shadow behind them, he'd know it anywhere. So he did nothing, relieved.

"What's the matter? Cat got yer tongue?"

"No. Just waiting."

"What?"

And Daniel was there, Alex was on the ground, gasping, and the man trying to crawl away from him was killed. He grabbed him while Dan had the other man, and disposed of him quickly, slamming his head on the corner of a rusty dumpster. Messy, but satisfactory. He turned back to see the other man slump unconscious by the wall. Dan had one hand on said wall, and was trying to catch his breath. "Are you crazy?" he said to his niece, who was getting up.

"Maybe," Rorschach pointed out.

"I was trying to help, alright?" she said.

"Could have gotten yourself killed. Was fine."

"Like hell you were fine, I just kept you from having your brains splattered!"

"Hurm. Wouldn't have splattered."

"I helped you, didn't I?!"

"Wasn't necessary."

"Oh, bull _shit_!"

"Alright!" Daniel intervened, "You're both fine, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Good. Now look..." he turned to Alex, "Don't do that again, alright? You really could have gotten killed."

"But I wasn't, I'm still here."

"And that's great, but just don't. Ever."

"Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest. There was a pause, Daniel and Alex both panting from lack of enough exercise to handle what they just did the only sound for a moment or two. Then she looked around at them. "Well?"

Rorschach straightened his coat. "Well what?"

"Don't I get a thanks or something? Like it or not, I did just save your ass."

He was not used to thanking people. He was also embarrassed at having been so foolish tonight. "Have a cold. Fever. I took medicine, didn't think it would effect me." This, sadly, was the truth.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to go out on patrols when you're sick?" said Dan, "Especially not with medicine in your system?"

"Hurm."

"Hello?" Alex again.

"Fine. Thank you."

And with that, he told them goodnight and walked away.

"You're _Wel_come!" she called after him.

Dan laughed, mostly out of sheer relief that this was over, and used to his friends' curt goodbyes.

"Whatever... So."

"So?"

She looked down and gestured to the man on the ground. "What do we do with him?"

They threw him in a dumpster nearby, the truck would find him in a couple of hours. Then, wiping his hands, Dan said, "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

"Okay." And they went.

A while later, a now grouchy redhead collapsed onto his bed, and, grumbling to himself in the process, put a cool cloth on his head and went to sleep.

A/N: Uh... Yeah! Yay? Nay? What? Anyways, that was what I thought of, and that is what this chapter shall be! It might have been better, but I had the same problem I've been having with this story, where I need to finish chapters quickly, unless I want to write, like, twenty pages of it. I'm trying to keep each chapter short and sweet so I can have more of them than my usual ten or twelve... Anyways, hope you liked that, ta! ~NS~


	6. Chapter 6

Hi! Sorry it took such a long time to write this, hope you all forgive me! Anyways, I took so long because I'm trying to move this along, but I don't have a clue as to which direction this is going to go yet. I have two plots I have ideas for, but I can't pick one yet, so bear with me if this is too slow. I also have to figure out a few key elements, like how Alex meets Walter! Because I figured she could. I just don't know how. Anyways, the general problem is I don't have a choice for my plot yet, I'm stuck with picking which one of two I wanna do. If I can't figure it out after too long, I've decided that I might ask you guys for your help! Yay! Anyways, that is my explanation. So... Read on and enjoy what I do know is going on!

6

Adrian was happy to have Dan over. It had been some time since he had any friendly faces here, or at least a friendly face that wasn't simply here for something to benefit themselves with. Money, fame, or just to say they know him. He tried to do whatever he thought would please them, regardless. It was good to keep people happy, whether or not he himself was. So his old friend was a welcome sight, and the fact that he had brought along someone who had never heard of him, or at least had and didn't care how famous he was, treating him just like anyone else. Whichever one it was, it made him glad. And although he preferred the other sex, she was at least remotely attractive. Enough to get a gay men to notice, anyway. And Bubastis loved her. She was currently on her back getting a belly rub, which was not something she did very often, even for him.

"So, how have you been, Daniel? With all of those reporters, I didn't get a chance to ask you."

"Oh, I've been fine. Same old stuff, I guess you could say. I have her to take care of now, too, but that isn't hard, she's old enough to do that on her own."

"Your niece, you said?"

"Yup. Came here from Maine." He paused to sip the drink he'd been given, and continued from a swallow. "She's my brothers' kid."

"I wasn't aware you had one."

"Well... I got her because he died recently."

"Oh! Sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I feel a little better now, since she's here. At least I know her now. And Rorschach was over for a while with injuries I fixed up, and he didn't mind her much, or at least not enough so that it affected him. He pretty much treated her as well as he usually treats friends of friends."

"Ah." He didn't know where to go from there, so he decided to ask how he was, despite the fact that he didn't much care. It would have been rude not to, in any case.

"He's just fine, I think. That was the first time I've seen him in ages, so I couldn't tell you. Besides, if something was bothering him it isn't like he'd tell me anyways."

"No, I suppose he wouldn't."

They looked over when a startled laugh caught their attention, and Adrian smiled. Bubastis had decided Alexandras' face desired cleaning, and had lightly pulled her head down and was giving her a bath. "I have never seen her act so friendly with anyone before, Alex. You must be quite good with animals."

"Apparently," she said in between giggles. The cat got up and quickly went to fetch a rope toy to play tug-of-war with and made a motion to her new friend to play. "Okay," she said, and took the end offered, readying herself.

"Just be a bit cautious, she can be rough, but it is in her nature."

"'Kay." And the game began.

The rest of the conversation went as smoothly as could be expected, and after a few hours, they bid each other good night, and after Alex could manage to keep Bubastis from following her out the door, they parted ways, leaving Adrian to sit and scratch his pet between the ears, while looking thoughtfully after them. He sensed that he may have just met someone who could be a friend. A real one, not someone who only wanted a piece of his fame. Perhaps, once they got to know one another better, she may be of use. A piece of rope toy was pushed into his hand, and he could have been whined at if it was a dog who held it. He smiled and said, "Alright, but only for a bit. I have more meetings to attend to, you know." And he stood up and tugged.

-

Alex had decided she liked Adrian. Not _liked_ liked him, just the usual. He seemed nice enough, anyways. And, yes, he was attractive, but only enough to make her blush a little, nothing more. Besides, it wouldn't make sense if she thought anything more than that, she had only met him yesterday.

She shifted the bag of groceries further up onto her arm and walked on. She didn't like the city. Granted, it would take a few months or so to get used to it, after arriving here from a place where her back yard consisted of trees, trees, and more trees, with animal noises at night, the occasional wandering bear cub, and several deer. But she didn't like it very much thus far. It was loud, and everyone here was always angry, or they were trying to rob you of something, be it money, belongings, or, at night, your virginity. She had only just been able to start falling asleep quickly over the sound of night time traffic outside the window.

In an attempt to try and blend in a little more, since she was wearing a band t-shirt and ripped-up jeans while every other woman here had something flashy and expensive on, she stopped to buy a magazine at one of the newsstands. It happened while she was flipping through a copy of Rolling Stone. A breeze picked up, and, along with the usual city smell, whatever that consisted of, there was another. It was faint, since it was coming from a little further up the sidewalk and since the man at the stand next to her had on some kind of horrible cologne, and was wearing too much, but she smelled it. It wasn't pleasant. It was the smell of someone who had not washed themselves recently, sweat and dirt. Normally, she would have at least made a face, but she froze instead.

She knew what that smell was. She had smelled it before. It had been more than a month ago now, but she had _smelled_ that before. And she remembered where. But Uncle Dan had said that he didn't usually come out during the day, that he was more of a night person. But that had been the smell. She _knew_ it had been. The guy had stayed in their house for two and half weeks, and that was what he smelled like. You remembered a smell once it had been there for a few days, coming from the same source, that was how the brain worked, right? It sort of filed away whatever it—

"Hey, sweetheart, you gonna buy that, or are you gonna stand there and stare at it all day?"

"Huh?" She blinked, looked at the stand owner, and blushed. "Oh, sorry. Um... How much?"

She bought the magazine and stuck it in her bag. After taking a breath, noticing the smell had gone, she walked on as before. She was so out of it for the time being, though, she accidentally bumped into a man in baggy clothes holding a sign. Apologizing quickly, she looked up at him and got the strangest feeling she had ever experienced. Some sort of cold shiver shot down her spine as she looked at the man she had walked into. And then there was the _smell_. It was coming from him. She blinked at him, suddenly feeling very small somehow, and couldn't move for a couple seconds, but it was a couple seconds too long.

"Something the matter?" the man said, but his voice was different. Less gravelly, less like a voice that could belong to an executioner, more like a... normal voice.

Heat flared up in her face for the second time in a few minutes, but she was sure it wasn't for the same reason as before. This was oddly different, and she didn't know what it was. "Oh, uh... I just... Sorry. Sorry." Feeling very awkward, she looked down at her feet, turning away quickly and hoping she never ran into whoever that had been again. It would be too much more awkward. She walked home, leaving that smell behind her, save for the tiny bit of it that had rubbed off onto her when she ran into him. Her mind was blank at this point, confusion as to why someone who obviously was not a masked vigilante could smell so much the same. There was less blood in the smell, though, that wasn't there. She relaxed a little, perhaps she hadn't just seen him. She almost walked by her door, and probably would have had she not come back to reality, and went inside, set the bag on table and sat down, pulling a bottle of Pepsi from the groceries with the intention of drinking it. She didn't even open it.

She was staring at the woodwork of the kitchen table when her uncle came in. "Hey, there you are. You got home before me?" She smiled up at him and he kissed her cheek. "What's up, you look like you just saw a ghost."

"I do?"

"Yeah. Just get back, of were you thinking of something?" He nodded at the bag of groceries.

"Oh! I just got back, yeah," Alex said, hopping up to begin putting away what she had bought.

Dan passed her going to the bathroom, and paused, sniffing. "What's that smell? Bump into Rorschach or something?"

She stopped moving. "What?"

"I know his smell, that's all. After being his partner for years, it's just one of those things I got to know him by, I guess."

"I'm... Not sure. I don't think so. It was just some guy with a sign..."

"Ah. Probably just a hobo or something, then." And he went off to the bathroom, leaving his niece to be completely taken aback by the knowledge that even her uncle knew what Rorschach smelled like, and had thought she ran into him. But there was the blood part that was missing... Unless it had been there simply because of the injury he had had when she met him. Oh, God. What if... No. No, there was no _way_... That guy seemed so much _smaller_, not only in stature, but just in everything about him. He was smaller than the man she had met. Yeah. So it wasn't him. Besides, like someone like Rorschach would spend his days walking back and forth with a sign all the time, right? Feeling much better and less confused, she opened the cabinet to put some cans up there, and paused to pop a sugar cube into her mouth.

A/N: TA-DA! There you go! And don't say that that was how she met him and I was saying I didn't know how that would happen yet, because she didn't really meet him, she just bumped into him, she didn't even find out his name. So there. Oh, and, in light of later chapters, I should probably tell you something. While watching the movie it seemed to me that the guy who was playing Ozzie had some kind of accent he was trying not to speak in. I haven't ever seen that actor before anywhere else, so I don't honestly know if that's true or not, but it seemed like it. I don't know if Adrian is actually supposed to British, but for some reason, due to that, whenever I picture him speaking, he has a British accent. So if he says something that sounds English, that's why. Just thought I would let you know in case anybody was wondering. You probably don't care, but oh, well. Anyways, bye, and thanks as usual! ~NS~


	7. Chapter 7

Hi! I have decided she can meet Eddie now, but it doesn't really amount to much until later... Anyways, so sorry for those of you who were annoyed with the wait this time, I didn't mean it! But since you guys continue to love this story, I am working as best I can on it. So far, though, don't expect much in the way of action because I still don't know exactly how to get to the parts of this I know I am going to do. Hell, I even know how both versions END, for fucks' sake! I just can't figure out how to get there... Anyways, enjoy!

7

Alex had begun to go out and look for a job today, and was scanning the windows for any help wanted signs when she decided to go into a nearby store and get some candy or something. They were also out of sugar cubes again, one of which she was eating right now. The last three of the ones in the tin were now in her pocket. Having a sweet tooth was getting bad...

As she looked through the different choices of chocolate — it had to be chocolate, not some other candy — she considered getting her uncle something, although she had no idea what he liked. She settled on a Hershey bar. Everybody liked those, right? She herself grabbed a different one, and paused to consider the ice cream before deciding against it and continuing on to the counter, where a very angry customer was yelling at the poor, obviously new cashier that stood behind it, trying to appease her. Honestly she didn't care what the argument was about, so she ignored the majority of it. She was wondering whether or not she could start eating her candy before she bought it when a large man turning to look at something on a shelf bumped into her.

He apologized, and then looked at her as though surprised for a moment. Apparently, he found her interesting somehow, because he started talking to her. "How 'bout that, huh? Little mistake, and some lady goes berserk over it."

She smiled, somehow liking him already. She had a sort of sixth sense about that sort of thing, she supposed. "People are crazy sometimes, yeah. Maybe it's just 'cause she's old."

"Or on the rag."

She laughed at that. "Probably that, too, yeah."

He was about to say something else when three men with guns burst in to rob the place. They told everyone to get down, and then demanded that the cashier open the drawer, and since everyone else was there for a reason, they told them to empty their pockets.

Her uncle had told her about some guys called knot-tops. Judging by the hair, these were those guys. She was too shocked, however, to immediately comply with their commands, and they didn't like that. She was a bit confused later, though, since she had thought people from that gang didn't really rob places. And now she was up against the wall with a guy in her face. This would be the second time her life was threatened since she came here. The first time, Rorschach had been there. This time he wasn't. She really hated this city.

The big man she had bumped into earlier, though, had not moved, and apparently was not intimidated by the thugs at all. "Now, is that any way to treat a lady?" he said to the man who had her, and pulled him off. Instinctively, she looked anywhere but at the fight that suddenly broke out, ducking under the nearest place she could when the bullets started flying and the screaming got louder. She must have been crouched under that shelf for ten or fifteen minutes before it stopped. And even then, she stayed put. She had been present during bank robberies, having worked at a bank and all, but they usually did not wind up this violent. Eventually, she peeked out at the scene. There was dust, someone had phoned the police, and there was a dead thug right where she had previously been standing.

"Hey, kid. You can come out, now." That man she had met peered under the shelving at her and smiled. As she allowed him to help her out and onto her feet, he muttered something that sounded like, "I'm gettin' way too old for this shit..."

Later, outside the store and having given her account of what happened, she found the man again just before he was leaving. "Hey, hold on a sec!" She ran over to him, and moved in front of him. "I didn't get to thank you earlier... Thanks."

"Ah, no prob. Done it before."

"You have?" Was he a cop, too or something?

"Yep. It doesn't matter where, really, kid, you don't need to know that. I was in town, and I was outta smokes, so that's why I was there at all, really."

"Oh. Well... Still. Thanks, uh..." She didn't really think she could ask him his name at this point.

He chuckled. "It's Edward Blake. But just call me Eddie, everybody else does." He shook the hand she offered, squeezing a little lighter than normal, since she was a girl, and she was small. He didn't want to hurt her hand or anything. And just what the hell was it that gave him a sense of familiarity with her? He hadn't seen her before, and she didn't look like any of the girls he knew, of which there were many. But there was something...

"Okay, then. Thanks, Eddie. And, um... I'm Alexandra Dreiberg. Just call me Alex." She beamed up at him.

Well, damn... "You're welcome, then, Alex... And it's Dreiberg? You don't know a guy named Dan, do you?"

"He's my uncle... you know him?"

"I did, once, but we haven't seen or heard from each other in a while... Anyways, I gotta go, but, you know, just tell him some guy said hi."

"Okay. See ya."

"See ya."

That must have been it, then. She didn't look much like him, save for the glasses. They were almost the same kind, but smaller, the kind that didn't take up most of your face. Her whole air practically _breathed_ that guy, though. It must have been the angle he had seen her from that triggered a recognition, then. Ah, well. He didn't think he would really have much to say to him, anyways, and Dan didn't know his identity, so it was useless for him to tell her to say hi from him. Whatever.

And he walked away.

-

What happened at the store, while it made her uneasy, did not in any way hinder her job hunt. If she was going to find herself a job, she would continue looking today. Eventually, she found a nice job opening for a position at a small pet store, where they needed a position filled. Since it was slow, they went about interviewing her right there and decided she would be a god hire. Sure, going back to being a banker somewhere around here would mean a lot more money, but she thought that after what had happened, at least here would be a safer choice.

So it happened that later that afternoon, she was telling Uncle Danny about the action she had seen that day. She was lying on her back on his desk in the basement while he made adjustments to Archie. Apparently even though he wasn't Nite Owl anymore, the flight they had taken before had at least prompted him to continue his work on the ship. In case of emergency, of course.

"Well, you got out okay, and that's good. Do you think they'll want you in the courts?"

"Oh, God, I hope not. Besides, I wouldn't be much help, I was hiding most of the time..."

"Well, in that case, probably not."

"Good." She sighed and picked up the photo of him, Rorschach, and the others, which had, in reality, been in her hands the whole time. She liked looking at it. It made her wonder why in hell any of them had quit in the first place... For some reason, though, her eyes kept being drawn to the man crouching in the front with the gun and the cigar. For a time, she looked at him, trying to figure out what was so interesting. And then her eyes noted the mustache on his face, and the hair style. Eventually, she sub-consciously removed the mask and then... "Hey!" She sat up quickly and pointed to him. "That's the guy that was there who told me to say hi to you for him!"

-

_Rorschachs' journal, July 5, 1983_

_Discovered prostitution ring being conducted by a man from Russia. Do not yet know his name, but heard a deal being made. Upon further investigations, found that the leader brings underage females, and some males, from varying different countries by bribing them with better lives then the ones they are living, with more money and better homes. Tells them it's a job, but nothing more. Seems to be very persuasive if he can convince them. Oldest sex slave is a male, Deryk, aged sixteen. All others are fifteen and below, youngest being approximately thirteen. Disgusting. Heard deal being made for fourteen year old girl, name unknown to me as yet, will investigate further, hope to find and kill leader, thus shutting down his ring. Don't know what to do about the slaves, but will try to make it stop. Humans should not live that way willingly, let alone unwillingly. Man has been corrupted so far that such things are considered normal in crime world. Will not allow this festering disease to spread any further into the already overflowing gutters. Will continue investigation tomorrow night._

_On another note, have run into Dreibergs' niece three times of late after last having seen her at his home. First time she saved my life, and for that I am grateful, but cannot help but wonder why she bothered. Am not worth putting someone else who barely knows me in any danger. Second and third times, however, was not wearing my face. Do not believe she recognized me the second time, when we pumped into one another on street. Third time, I saw her, but she did not see me. Has been hired in shop directly next to my own workplace, is to help care for the animals on sale there, and act as floor associate when not caring for them. While I do not feel in the least threatened by her being there, I am uneasy. Do not know if something I do will let her know who I am, should probably be careful. However, until I am completely convinced she will be a threat, will not try too hard to avoid her, in case it's noticed. _

As the sun rose over the murky streets below, Rorschach closed his journal, took a breath, and proceeded down from the building he had been sitting on, carefully making his way to one of the more secluded paths that led him back home to retire for a few hours before heading to work.

A/N: Was that one longer than usual? It seemed like it while I wrote this... Anyways, as usual, thanks for reading and all that stuff, stay tuned! Yay! ~NS~


	8. Chapter 8

Oh my God, I am so so so sorry it took this long to write this! I was sick, and then there was writers block, and then there was work and stuff... Anyways! I am so sorry! Please, forgive me? (pouts) Anyways, here you go! Thank you for being patient to those of you who were!

8

Laurie was not pleased. Jon was getting worse by the day, and she had nothing to do besides ignore it if she could and get on with it all. She was at the mall now, spending some government money because she was bored, upset, and just angry. Three men had checked her out as she passed. One had attempted to pick her up. It was tempting, but he lost. And now here she was, eating at a lousy food court. Today was not her day. Perhaps she could go see Dan? Jon wouldn't mind. All she would do was bring home the things she had bought, and then be on her way. At least one Dr. Manhattan was at a press conference again. She figured the place would be empty when she got there, unless he was still working at the same time, which was also very likely. She sighed and pushed herself up, gathering her bags.

As it turned out, the house, if that was what it could be called, was, in fact, empty. She had mulled over her anger on the way to the mall and back, and had simmered down quite a bit, but this... So the man would never duplicate himself for a press conference, but he couldn't even simply be one person while they were in bed? And, just like that, she was angry again, and, yes, she wanted to see Dan.

At this point in time, Dan was not home. He was visiting Hollis. It was dark out by now, and Alex had just gotten back from her new job. The man with the sign worked in the tailors shop next to the pet store and had left a few hours ago, apparently an early shift end. Usually she was out before he was. For some reason, she couldn't help but keep glancing at him when he was around. It was just the smell that made her feel funny. Not sick funny, just... funny. He really did smell like him...

It had been a while since she saw Rorschach last. In a way, she couldn't help but wonder how he was, it was in her nature to care about other people first. Even if he did have some asinine tendencies. He was still a person, after all. And that smell was the only way she knew him, anyways. She walked on, unaware that she was being followed, too lost in thought to care right now. She wanted to know that mans' name... And then she was yanked into an alley and slammed against a wall by a man in a ripped up vest, and everything went numb. He had a knife. He was looking at her, not just her face, _all_ of her. She didn't care what he said, didn't hear it, she just struggled as soon as she realized what was happening. She broke away from him, managed to scream for help, and then was tackled and dragged back. No one was there, dear God, no one was _there_!

He said something about how she was pretty. How he wanted to see what else she looked like. Wondered what she tasted like. She broke free again, ran again, the wrong way, down the alley, but there was another end, a turn, right there, there would be another street there. She was only a block away from home, this couldn't happen here... She tripped, or the guy behind her tripped, and he grabbed her ankle. And she screamed while she was being pulled back, and she tried so hard... There was a noise. The weight of his body was gone. It took her a moment to open her eyes and she saw him fighting with someone. Someone who's fedora fell to the ground, and whose coat flapped about his knees. Oh, God... She stood, pushing herself up by using the wall behind her, and not taking her eyes off the scene. She couldn't.

And there he was, the man she had been thinking about the whole time, for reasons she didn't understand. She had seen fights before. This was the first time she had ever watched a _whole_ fight, though, and it was the first time she saw how he fought, even though she had helped him that one time. She had never seen anybody fight like this, like it was the last, only, first, thing he could and would ever do. She knew his life depended on it, but he actually _fought_ like it. She was still crying. And it was done, and Rorschach straightened up, adjusted his coat, and bent to reach his hat, right by her foot. He looked up, and she wasn't sure, but she thought they were both suddenly frozen for a moment.

Eventually, he stood up again, and he looked her over. "You again? Are following me?"

She didn't say a word, she just stood there, leaning against her hands on the wall. And then, with one sob, she lurched forward and buried her face in his chest. And he had never been so shocked in his life. No one had ever bothered... They would rather not even touch him, they said he smelled, that he was all sorts of things that they didn't like, they never, ever had _ever_ bothered to hug him, not once, not even Daniel.

Not even his mother.

He cleared his throat, and, very gingerly, he patted her on the back and then gently pushed her away from him. "Shouldn't be here at night. Were working?"

She nodded, silent.

"Could have hailed a cab." That was stupid, there weren't any here right now. She said nothing. He sighed. "Are you alright?"

Finally, she looked up at him and nodded. "Thank you." It was a whisper, but it was something.

"You get into trouble often. Either have very bad luck, or criminals are simply attracted to you." He should not have put it that way, he saw the look that crossed her face. And saw something else. He had looked elsewhere. He shouldn't have noticed that, that was wrong... Impolite, and indecent. He looked away. After a thought crossed his mind, he began unbuttoning his coat. "Ripped your shirt. Shouldn't go home like that. Here."

She stared at his outstretched arm as though it were the most amazing gesture he could have made. She hadn't expected him to offer her his coat? She looked up at him, then back at his hand, and then, very shyly, she thanked him and took it, wrapping herself in it. "Hurm. Welcome." They stood there for a bit, neither one of them knowing exactly what to do. He decided he may as well take her to her uncle. "Can walk you home. Will have to go a different way, more secluded. Won't be good for either of us if we're seen together, especially when you're wearing my coat. This way. And stay close." She nodded, and obediently followed him, staying at his side without saying a word. "Look ashamed. You shouldn't. Not your fault, criminals will attack anyone alone at night. Just so happened he attempted what he did."

"I'm sorry."

Now he was confused. "Why?"

"There are other people you could have been taking care of. You don't seem happy you ran into me."

"Am not usually happy about anything. Not your fault."

"But that's the third or fourth time I got into trouble here. Like you said, it happens to me a lot. I'm bothering you with it all, aren't I?"

How was he supposed to answer that? This wasn't something he was used to... "Aren't bothering me."

"I don't?"

"No."

"But uncle Danny said you don't usually like girls in any case."

Ah. So that was it. She thought she was bothering him because of that. "Don't like typical girls. Only care about clothes, shoes, and makeup. At least here. Most only want to go to bed with a man. Lot are walking the streets at night. All the same, I thought."

"Thought?"

"Yes."

"Until..."

"Aren't the same as most girls. Different."

"You don't mind me because I'm different? In a good way?" He noted she was being careful not to use the word 'like'. Did she think he would take the meaning wrong?

"Yes. I suppose so. A good way." And now they were in the Nest, and walking up the basement steps. And, just barely, she was smiling.

He opened the door for her, and a few moments later her uncle was walking toward them. He saw the situation, stopped moving, looked from one to the other, and said, "What happened?"

"Man attempted to assault her. Saw it, stopped it. Gave her my coat because her shirt is ripped open."

"Jesus..." He moved forward and wrapped his arms around Alex, and then pushed her away enough so he could look into her face. "Are you alright?" he asked, pushing back her hair.

"I'm fine now, yeah."

"You're sure?"

"Uh-huh."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Thank God..." He pulled her in again, and kissed her on the head a couple times. "Come on, sit down or something... "

She nodded and let him guide her to the couch.

"Rorschach..."

"Have already been thanked, Daniel. Don't need to hear it again. She's safe," he said, speaking around a sugar cube he had just put into his mouth.

Dan had learned early that when Rorschach said he didn't want to be thanked, it was best not to thank him. "Okay... Come on, Alex..." He was about to move on when she pointed out something.

"Rorschach, you're bleeding..."

He looked down. Oh. "From previous fight. Will be fine in a few days, not that deep. All I need is some –"

"Come here and let me look at it at least," Dan said, "It's the least you can let me do. Besides, usually when you try to treat your own wounds as bad as that one, you just make it worse, or have you gotten better at it?"

He meant it to be kind, not to criticize. Besides, she still had his coat, and it _was_ the least thing Dan could do. He had been partners with him for years, he knew how determined he could be. If only he had been determined enough not to quit. He sighed, and gave in. He wanted his coat back, after all.

Just as they were crowding into the living room, a female voice came in from the kitchen. "Dan? The front door was unlocked, so I just let..." Laurie stopped at the doorway, looked around the room, and said, "Um. Am I interrupting something?"

Alex noticed it almost immediately. The room seemed to drop about twelve degrees when Laurie looked at Rorschach. He tensed up, and she could tell he wanted to say something other than what he did, which was, "Laurie." It was in the form of a greeting, not simply a statement of her name, but at the same time it didn't sound like that. It sounded like he had used her first name on purpose, not because they were on first-name terms. He had said it to annoy her, for lack of being able to say anything else considering the company.

"Rorschach. I see you... came back."

"Never went away."

"You know what I meant."

At this point in time, Dan spoke up in a hurry. "Uh, Laurie! Hi! Uh... How are you?" He stood up and went to greet her, and she returned the greeting as best she could, not taking her eyes off the man in the purple pinstripes. "Uh, Laurie, this is my niece, Alex. Alex, this is Laurie. She's an old friend."

"Um... Hi. Nice to meet you," said Alex. She tried to be as polite as she could without giving away the fact that she was curious as to why it was so apparent that this woman and Rorschach disliked each other. Very politely, she held out a hand, keeping the coat wrapped around her with the other, aware that she was only wearing a bra under her now torn shirt, and it was probably askew or something. It would be impolite to just let that out under the circumstances.

"Pleasure," Laurie said, and took her proffered hand. They shook, but it only lasted for a split second, as she seemed to be confused about whose coat Alex was wearing, and didn't like the idea. She could always just say she was cold or something, but there was a blanket behind them on the couch and that wouldn't have made any sense. "So, I see _you _two have... met." She continued, smiling a smile that was more like a grimace.

"Yes," Rorschach said, "Few months ago. Came here with injuries, she helped Daniel tend to them. Saved my life later. Just saved hers. So, yes, we've met."

"Great." That meant, basically, that no, it was not great in her opinion, and she didn't quite care who knew it. It simply was none of her concern.

"Uh, Laurie, why don't we head on into the kitchen and I'll make you some coffee or something," Dan said, trying his damnedest to prevent a fight of some kind breaking out in front of his niece. "I'll just... I'll explain a little bit in there, okay?"

With a last look at Alex and Rorschach, she turned and went back where Dan had suggested. He mouthed a few words to them, telling them to just hold on, and followed her. After that there was silence.

Alex didn't take kindly to silence, so she spoke up. "Did... Something happen with you two?"

"Hurm?" He was eating another sugar cube, and she refused to allow herself to think that it was a little cute.

"You and that lady. You don't like each other much, do you?"

"Not particularly, no."

"How come?"

"Don't get along well. Isn't very considerate of others, and never liked wearing a costume in first place. Wasn't even good heroine material. Simply there to look pretty."

"Oh. So... that bad, huh?"

He nodded and took off his suit jacket to get a closer look at his wound while they waited. "Doesn't like me, and I don't like her. Try to keep it quiet between us, but usually end up fighting anyway."

She looked at him poking at the wound, and said, "You know, if you let me change my shirt, I can at least try to clean that for you. And then you can let Uncle Danny do whatever he thinks he should."

"Only needs some alcohol."

She smiled softly. "You don't think much about yourself, do you? Too busy standing up for people you don't even know?"

"Have no reason to care very much."

"Yes, you do. Otherwise, how can you keep going for very long?"

He looked up at her, his incredulous expression hidden behind his face, and was about to say something when Dan came back in the room. "Well... Laurie left. She said she didn't want to bother us."

"Didn't want to be in same building as me."

"Aw, come on... She isn't that bad. Once you get to know her a little better."

"Won't allow it. Neither will I. Mother makes her dress like a whore, makes her fight the way she did, and all she has to show for it is money that she gets simply for existing. Doesn't work to get it. Gets paid for doing nothing. Difficult to associate with someone like that."

"If you would just... You know what, never mind. Lets get a look at that injury..."

With a grunt, Rorschach lifted part of his shirt in order to show them the wound. "Blunt object hit me. Must have broken a blood vessel and then been split open somehow. Not that big of a problem."

"You're whole side is bruising up. How did you manage to fight like this?"

"Have higher pain tolerance than most. Have worked on it."

"I see... Alex, would you mind getting the rubbing alcohol from the bathroom mirror?"

"Okay. Let me change my shirt first..." She headed quickly to her room and changed, briefly scanning the scrapes and bruises she had gotten from her struggle, and then went to do as she'd been asked. When she returned to the couch, Dan had gotten some cotton balls and was already rubbing some dirt off with water from a cup he brought in. She politely held out the bottle, and then sat on the couch next to the 'patient'. From there, it was just the same as it had been the last time, Rorschach saying nothing and herself watching the work that was being done. No stitches were required, and eventually she and her uncle were left alone.

"So... I take it him and Laurie don't get along at all?"

"Nope, they don't. Not at _all_," Dan said, cleaning up the used cotton and any alcohol drippings.

"Were they always like that?"

"Oh, God, yeah. You see, if there's one thing you learn about Rorschach, it's that it takes a whole lot to get him to trust someone. Especially females. But, he seems to get along just fine with you, did you compliment him or something?"

"I don't think that's it, unless it was indirectly. Maybe just being nice to him is a compliment in itself."

"I bet it is. Hey... Are you gonna be okay? I mean, that guy didn't... _get _anywhere, did he?"

"No, he didn't. I'm okay now, just a little shaken up. Um... I think I'll just go to bed for now, though, I should be okay in the morning."

"Alright... If you're sure, I won't bother you about it, but... you know, just, um... Well, good night." He kissed her forehead and she bade him good night also, and headed off to her room.

As she passed the couch, though, she noticed something on one of the cushions. One of Rorschachs' sugar cubes had fallen out of his pocket. It was a different kind than the ones they had here, with the name of some diner or something on the wrapper. She picked it up, looked at it for a bit, considered, and then popped it into her mouth. She went to bed just fine, after writing in her diary about the days' events, and had some strange dream involving a cat, some guy that was like a huge black shadow, and the man that worked at the tailor shop. For some reason, she kept calling him Rory.

A/N: Again, my apologies! On top of all that stuff mentioned above, our internet was shut off, and therefore prolonging the time it took for this to be posted! I is sorry! Anyways, I don't know what's gonna happen next, no clue at all, so I think you might just have to be patient again... Thanks for reading, stay tuned! ~NS~


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, so, to all of my fans out there, I would like to present to you yet another chapter of this story, one which was brought to me in full by reading a couple other fanfics earlier tonight. Well... yesterday, actually, since it's almost one in the morning. Enjoy and stuff!

9

It had been another few weeks since Alex had seen Rorschach last, and it had begun to bug her. He only came over when he was injured and needed to be fixed up, then complained if someone was too nice to him. Or whatever he thought was too nice. It was like he didn't expect to be cared for as earnestly as his best friend cared. Whether or not she could be called one of his friends she wasn't too sure about. Laurie had come over again today, and since Rory... Er, Rorschach... She shouldn't give him a nickname, he didn't seem the kind of person to like being given nicknames, if he had ever been given one at all. But since he wasn't there, she had been in a better mood. She had just left.

"Well?" asked her uncle, after closing the door after Laurie.

"Well what?"

"Your face. What do you think of her?"

She took a breath... "Um..."

He looked disappointed. "You don't like her."

"I'm sorry, I tried, I really did, but it's just that she just bothers me."

"How?"

"She's just so judgmental of things, and she talks funny, like she says stuff that you would only expect some snobby rich British person to say... Horrid? Who says horrid, honestly? And vile? I've never heard an American who wasn't either old or filthy rich or both say either of those things. Besides, she just doesn't seem like the type of person I'd hang out with too often or anything. She's so... I don't know... She just seems so rude sometimes."

He laughed, in spite of himself. "Who's being judgmental?"

"Okay, fine, maybe I am being a bit like that, but I at least tried... And... Never mind."

"What, what?"

She chose her words carefully. "Why does she... Um... How come she talks about Rorschach like he's a piece of crap?"

"Oh, that? He was brought up for two seconds because you asked out loud of he came over last night and you didn't know it, since more of the sugar cubes were gone, and that's what bothers you?"

"She's just so mean... Did he ever do anything to her at all?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Then how come she says stuff like that? She never even tried to get to know him at all, did she? She just immediately assumed that he isn't a nice person."

"Well, I can hardly call him nice, either, but I guess he has his good points." He paused and then smirked at her. "You're awfully fond of him, aren't you? And you've only met him, what, three, four times? Five, at most?"

"So? Just because I've only met him a couple times, I can't decide he's fine by me?"

He kept looking at her without a word, the smirk on his face clearly readable.

"What?" He chuckled and shook his head. "What? Oh, you think... No! No, I mean, it's just that I think he's cool, that's all! I don't... I can't, I don't know him well enough! You... Oh, shut up!" Her face burning at the idea that had been put before her, she turned and scrubbed the dirty dish she had been washing harder while he laughed at her.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Anyways, I need to go to work, and I'll probably be visiting Adrian later, he wanted to show me something, so I won't be home until late. You okay with that?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

He kissed her on top of the head, picked up his coat, and said his goodbyes. He got a similar reply as the last thing she said, smiled again, and left. She let off a bit on the scrubbing, and slowed to a stop, thinking over what he had indirectly suggested. She didn't _think_ she liked him... Not anymore than a friend, anyways. She really _had_ only met him a few times, that made no sense whatsoever, there wasn't enough time for her to have developed anything more than admiration for him. Besides that, he had to be, what, in his forties? Possibly? She shouldn't think that way about someone twice her age... There was something she wanted to ask him, however, she had thought about it over the last few days and had decided it was what she wanted. She only hoped that if she was turned down, he didn't do it too roughly...

The whistle of a teapot she had put on the stove jolted her out of her thoughts, and she grabbed it with one hand, too quickly and without anything between her skin and the metal of the handle. She jumped, dropped it, and then dropped the plate in her other hand to grab the dish towel from the oven handle to clean up the hot water she had just spilled, almost dropped it again when she went to stand the teapot back up, and quickly went to work with the towel, all thoughts of the man in the mask gone for now.

#

Later on, after she had had some tea, she decided that she wanted to go out somewhere. There was a diner within walking distance, so she decided to go there. As it was a Saturday, the place was pretty busy, and she had to wait in line for some time before getting her food. When she got it and turned around to find a seat, she realized that the place was so bustling that the only seat seat available to her was... She froze, stared, and was at a loss for what to do. It was the seat across from the redhead that worked at the tailors. The man that reminded her, somehow... Heat began to rise slowly up from her feet. She squashed it down as best she could, gathered up her courage, and walked over. "Um," she said to him, her voice ridiculously small, "Is it okay if I sit here?" When he looked up, a very brief, split-second look of surprise darted across his features. In that split second, two minds, one the mind of a man who prowled the streets at night murdering murderers, the other the mind of a shy, reclusive man who was thought dead by the other mind, and who, coincidentally, thought the girl in front of these two minds sharing one set of eyes was pretty, sputtered into action.

One said, no, she couldn't, the other said but why, she didn't know.

One said he thought she was nice, the other said, but she'll find out.

One said she could easily find out over a few words, the other said, then I just won't talk much.

It went on, all in the matter of less than three seconds. Eventually, a result was born. The result was a shy nod, and a quiet yes.

She smiled, and politely sat down, thanking him gently. So... Now what? She couldn't just sit there, could she?

Please let her just sit there and say nothing, please, oh please, oh... She politely cleared her throat. Oh, no.

"You, uh... You work at the tailors up the street, don't you?"

He sipped at his coffee, nodded as he swallowed, and said, in a very quiet voice, "Yeah." Nobody had ever remembered seeing him before, they just looked right through him. This was the first time he had actually been acknowledged before.

"I thought so." She couldn't think of much to say. The problem that was causing this was the fact that, although most people at first glance might call this guy ugly, there were two tiny occasional weak spots that she had. Red hair and blue eyes. The man across from her had both of those traits. Maybe it was just where she had lived before, but as far as she could tell it was usually green eyes with gingers, if their eyes weren't brown, anyways, and so she had also developed a particular liking of this combination. So she felt absolutely ridiculous. Dammit...

Continue, she had to say something else... "I... Work at the pet store next to there. I see you sometimes, that's all." Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"I've... seen you, too. A bit." The more she spoke to him, the more pink her cheeks became. Nobody had ever done that before... Rorschach was yelling at him.

"Um..." She took a breath. Introduction time... She held out a hand. "Alex."

He stared at the hand as though it would bite him. This was also the first time anyone had ever offered to shake before, besides his boss when they had met. He had been shocked then, too. Swallowing, he carefully took the hand. "Walter."

She nodded, and smiled gently. Now what, now what? She began awkwardly poking at her food. Walter apparently could think of nothing to say at the moment, either, and he nervously went to a habit his other half had taken up. He popped a sugar cube into his mouth.

Something shot straight through Alex's chest. It was warm and cold at once. She had caught that act, and was suddenly numb. All she had seen when he did it was his mouth, as she had just been looking back up again. That mouth, the way it was shaped, thin face, stubble, a freckle near his chin. That was the only way she had ever even gotten an inkling as to what her uncles' best friend had looked like behind that face, or what he called his face. She had seen that action many times, had unintentionally remembered it, it was all that she knew of the physicality of the man. And, come to think of it, he had freckles on his arms and torso, she had noticed them, again unintentionally, while he was being fixed up. And there were a few scattered hairs on his chest, also, if she remembered right, and they were red. It had been something that had struck her as odd, because she had never pictured a man like that having red hair. Her heart pounded. No, no way... Oh, God, no way...

"Hey, look who it is!" The voice broke through her panic-induced thinking. If he found out she had at least an idea of who he was, he would be mad. But she looked up, startled at the sudden outburst from a drunk man who had just stumbled into the doorway. "Kovacs! Wow, I ain't seen you since grade school!" The man that was possibly Rorschach suddenly went pale. He was scared. He tried to hide it, but he was. And, somehow, that made her slightly angry at the loud man. No... _very_ angry.

The drunk man stumbled towards them and patted him very hard on the back. Leaning in, he said, "So, how've you been, whoreson?" And just like that, Walter was angry. And she was angrier. How _dare_ this man!

Walter, however, did nothing about his anger. His face got red, and his grip on the coffee cup tightened, knuckles turning white. His eyes got dark. There was a lady here, though, and she was nice to him. He would not hit this man in front of her. And the darker voice in his head was growling.

For some reason, Alex got colder when that expression, that strangely dark expression, crossed his face. It would have made her wonder if her thoughts about his possible alter identity were right, if the drunk man hadn't brought her into the conversation. "So who's this little cutie, hm?" He went to touch her face, and she angrily flinched away, glaring at him. "Some whore off the street, like your momma? I would think only whores would hang out with a whoreson such as yourself." He looked at her. "Come on, sweetheart. I can give you a better time than this little sh—" But Walter had punched him in the face before he could finish. And she saw it. God, did she see it. There he was. The man in the black and white mask was now standing before her, facing this man, and his face was gone, she was seeing what was there. And now, of course, she was pissed.

"Why don't you leave him the fuck alone, asshole!" she yelled at the drunk guy, standing up also.

"Oh, so the whore has a temper?"

"You wanna _see_ my temper!"

"Oh, yeah, sure, but ain't we in a public place?" Walter, no, Rorschach, punched him again. This was Rorschach, defending her. He did not care what the man said about him, but he cared what he said about the only girl who had ever been kind to him. He didn't like this guy insulting her, but he could take insults himself without so much as a twitch. And it was because of this that Rorschach was very angry now.

Several larger men were coming quickly towards them, and all the other man got in was a push, a stupid, sissy push before they were in between them, threatening to call the cops. Walter didn't want to let this go any farther, and did his best to push Rorschach out of the way. Alex would be scared... But, no, she wasn't scared, she was angry, and she was the one yelling insults at the offending drunk now, insults well brought up young ladies should not know.

They were all told to take it outside, to get out. Walter left quickly, not wanting to kill anyone. He was embarrassed, and Rorschach was angry at him for letting her talk to them, and angry at the man for insulting her. It was the first time he had ever been so defensive of anyone except for Daniel. It surprised he and Walter both. But, in a defensive act, he decided that he had become angry because she did not deserve to be called a whore, she had never done anything to earn the name. She was not disgusting in any way, and she looked at people a lot longer than most. Perhaps, one day, if she liked, she could make a good mask. Walter went home, ready for a nap before patrolling for the night.

#

Alex slammed the door to the house so hard it echoed. She was not happy. How _dare_ that man come in there just like that and call Walter a whoreson! It was a foul thing to say! Even if his mother had done that, it was no reason to say it! In hindsight, she wondered if it might be true, if his mother had or not. But no, that was impolite. Although he did seem a bit sensitive to it. She rubbed her face, and collapsed onto the sofa, lying down on her back and staring at the ceiling. Damn it all... She didn't like getting angry like that. She didn't like yelling at people, it wasn't in her nature, and she had only gotten into one fight at school, once, because some bitch had seriously pissed her off, and she had slapped her.

Thing was, when she fought with people, it gave her a sort of thrill. Not anything dirty, just... Something. It was hard to explain. Like it was something that she was supposed to do. Like... It was her calling? And so, it brought her back to the question that she was going to ask if she ever saw Rorschach again, and that brought her back to what she had just seen.

It could be her imagination. Perhaps it was just a bunch of coincidences. Just because a guy happened to have red hair that didn't mean anything. She had seen men with brown hair and red beards before, so was it possible that maybe a guys' chest hair could be a different color than the hair on his face and head? And she had a blond friend in Maine who had had freckles. It wasn't a very common combination, but she had. And the sugar cube thing? She ate sugar cubes, and she definitely was not him. But... The way he had looked. His face being as thin as it was, the stubble... and the way he had looked when he had punched the other guy and stood up, ready and on the defensive... Her heart went crazy again. It was _not_ what Uncle Danny thought, that made it do that, it couldn't be. She was just worried that if she was right, he'd find out, and then he would be mad. So it was fear of that, that's all. That's all... She fell asleep, and this time dreamt of calling Rorschach Walter. Oh, and the cat had turned into an owl. What the hell was with that?

#

Walter wanted to see her again. Rorschach was delaying this as much as possible. A thug down here, a thief down over here, three guys down there... Eventually he noticed he was heading in the general direction of his former partners' house anyways, and the closer he got, the less of a choice he had. So, finally, he got there, and kicked in the lock on the door, thinking up an excuse. He could not apologize for earlier, if she hadn't figured it out, he didn't want her to. She was in the kitchen getting a late night snack when he arrived. He had startled her, and she had a knife in her hand when he came in. He ignored that.

"Rorschach! You scared me..." She put the knife down. "What's up?"

"Injuries. Not bad, but have run out of alcohol at home. Was wondering if Daniel might help."

"Uncle Dan isn't here, he went to see Adrian after work."

"Veidt? Why?"

She shrugged, sucking some spaghetti sauce off of a couple fingers. "He said he had something to show him."

"Hurm." He was going to be left alone here with Alex. If he was Walter, he would be blushing, but as he wasn't, he didn't.

"Would you mind if I helped? He showed me what to do..."

There was a long pause before he decided it would help for an excuse. "Suppose so. Will need alcohol, and possibly a couple of bandages, but I'm not sure. Was thrown, slid across ground. Back is scraped up." At least this was true.

"Okay, um... I'll go get some stuff, and you can just sit wherever you want, okay? Help yourself to some pasta if you're hungry." She went to the bathroom, proud of herself. That had gone perfectly well. She had hidden the oncoming rush of embarrassment with ease. Now all she had to do was keep her cool while she cleaned up his back. At least he wouldn't be able to see her face then.

He was right, he needed a couple band-aids, if only to keep the infection out. She tried not to sound too nervous while she sat behind him, tried to ignore the feeling she got when she recognized the bottom half of his face as he ate a sugar cube. He didn't say much at all. In all honesty, he didn't know what to say. It was a long time before either one of them spoke, and Alex was the one who broke the silence. "Hey, Rory?"

"Rory?"

She jumped. Oh, shit, no she hadn't... "Sorry, I just... I have a tendency to give people nicknames, sorry..." He was quiet for a little while.

"Hurm. Never been given a nickname before."

"Oh?"

"No one really bothered."

"Oh..."

Another few seconds of embarrassed silence. "Suppose you can call me that if you want. Doesn't seem like much to worry about."

"Really?"

"Yes."

That was surprising as hell. But it made her happy. "Okay."

"Were going to ask me something?"

And here it goes... She took a calm breath, closed her eyes, and asked. "Can you maybe... Teach me how to fight?"

A/N: Okay, I have to leave it there, because I just spent two hours on this somehow, and I need to get up in the morning. It isn't too bad, though, right? That ending? Anyways, don't worry, I know what happens after this, so the next chapter should be coming up soon enough. Bye, now, and thanks as always! ~NS~


	10. Chapter 10

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to write this, I've been busy and stuff... Anyways, I'll be making this up as I go along, so please bear with me here, okay? Thanks!

10

There was silence. It was a long silence, and Alex didn't like it. She prepared herself for the answer.

"What?" It was quiet, she might even say confused, or even surprised.

She took a breath and repeated the question, with no pause this time. "Could you teach me how to fight?" At least she had finished patching him up, because he turned around.

"You want me to teach you?"

"Yes." She tried looking him in the eye, but it was hard to do when her own eyes were trying to read the shapes shifting around his face. She meant what she said, even if it was unexpected.

He looked at her for a long time, then turned away and stood, beginning to replace his layers of clothing. "No."

"Why?"

"Not a good teacher. Besides, would interfere with rounds."

"You wouldn't have to teach me the whole night!"

"Why would you want to learn? Not something you're built for." He meant built in two different ways, and wondered in the back of his mind if she caught both meanings. Apparently she hadn't, judging by her next comment.

"Of course not, not yet! But how does somebody get that way without training? So to speak?"

That gave him pause. "Training? What _exactly_ do you mean by training?"

"I don't know. I said it because that was the word I thought of, that's all."

"Are planning to do what if I train you?"

"Defend myself at least. I've gotten into trouble so many times here it's like I'm a magnet for it. What am I supposed to do if it happens again and you aren't around?"

"Said at least. Something else?"

"I don't know..."

She stopped talking because he was silent now. And he was silent because of the idea that had just occurred to him. She noticed that silence. It wasn't a silence that suggested he was waiting for more, it was one that had something behind it. She didn't like that at all.

Instead of voicing the possibility that she wanted to _do_ something with what she learned, he simply said "No," again, closed his coat around him and walked out, leaving her standing there wondering what the hell she had just gotten herself into.

#

Rorschach walked home from Daniels' house in deep thought. Not deep enough to prevent him from paying attention to what was going on around him, but nothing was going on. It had stopped. Probably because the sun was just peeking up over the horizon, where you could see one. Even criminals slept now. He should, too, but his thoughts would keep him up, he knew it. At least he didn't work tomorrow.

So. She wanted him to teach her. Had said that it was to defend herself, but had added 'at least'. That meant she had other plans that she was unwilling to tell him right away. The only other possibility that he could think of was that she was indirectly offering to help him. A girl, so small and young that she would probably break with the first hit, wanted to help him fight criminals. She'd be dead the first night. Then again, she was very much like Daniel. Half the time she reminded him of her uncle a few minutes into a conversation. Had even been wearing one of his plaid shirts just then, while cleaning up his back. Even with all the layers of clothing, sliding feet first across pavement into a brick wall was not easily shaken off. He didn't even know how it had happened, now that he thought about it, but that man was dead now, and he had left his symbol on a neatly folded piece of paper in one of the guys' pockets. He didn't really need to do that anymore, since he was the only one who was not another criminal killing them off and people knew that by now, but it was a habit.

If Alex took after her uncle, she would be a good partner while it lasted, but even so, he wouldn't allow it. It was probably just something that she wanted to do to feel important, or to have something to brag about, considering her age, not something she would do for everyone she was protecting, doubted she cared. And he would not allow what he had become to break her. It would. That was why he had stopped showing up for patrols before Danial had quit, because he knew his best and only real friend would not be able to handle the pain. It was why he had never told him about Blair Roche. He had no desire to break his friend, and no desire to break... his other friend. She was his friend, wasn't she, now? After all this. It hadn't been much, but she was kind to him. She had no problems with his smell, or his attitude, or any of his other less endearing habits, or at least none that she voiced. It was nice, having two friends, now that he considered it. They were all he had, and now the younger of the two wished to help him, for her own reasons. Most likely selfish ones. She wasn't old enough to feel for other people, and probably didn't.

He was home, now, and went straight to bed, but simply stared up at the ceiling for a bit. No. She didn't care, she only wanted to be known.

That was what he thought.

The problem was, however, that she did care. She cared about everyone, whether or not she had met them, whether or not they had done her wrong, and she knew that. So it was, that, lying in her own bed and staring at her own ceiling, she made a decision. And then she smiled at the possibilities, rolled over and went to sleep.

#

Alex looked for Walter and his sign the next day, and was pleased to see that he was in his usual spot. He wasn't working, she had figured that out after having begun paying at least a little attention to him, but he would always walk back and forth with that sign, all the time. She knew who else he was by now, and had found that it didn't really have much of an effect on her for whatever reason. Perhaps because he seemed so much smaller without his coat and mask and hat. He wasn't even that much taller than herself, come to think of it.

After checking the little paper bag in her hand to see if it was the right one and finding that it was, she walked over to him and waved, smiling. A surprised look came over his face, and since the wind was pretty strong today it had already turned his cheeks red, so she failed to notice the split second blush that crossed them.

For once, the gruff voice inside Walters' head said nothing, but he could _feel_ what his face might be like, and he was not pleased.

"Hi," Alex said cheerfully, and folded her hands over a brown paper bag at the front of her waist.

"Hello."

"What's wrong, you don't look happy."

"I don't think I do, usually. But I didn't sleep last night."

"At all?" Ah.

"Not until eight or nine."

"How come?"

It was an innocent question. One that she had asked specifically for that reason, to sound as though she didn't know why. Rorschach suspected this, then doubted it, and it merely made Walter have to come up with a quick excuse.

"Just a little bit of insomnia, I think."

"Oh. I hate when that happens. Oh, yeah, and I brought you something." She held the bag out to him.

That surprised him beyond words. No one had ever gotten him anything. He took the bag, holding his sign with the crook of his arm, and looked inside. In the bag were a fork and knife, a few folded napkins, and a plastic container inside which was the most delicious looking spaghetti he had even been handed. Ziti, covered in a generous amount of sauce with two different cheeses melted on top, and three good sized meatballs. She had made him food. Wow.

"I noticed you never seem to eat much when you're on lunch, you just kinda hang out here for a while, so I figured you'd like something to eat."

He could barely speak. It was the first time he had an opportunity to eat any real food in a long time. "Thank you. Very much. It's very nice of you."

"No prob. I thought I'd give it to you today if I saw you, since I need to pass by here to go grocery shopping. Uncle Danny has no idea how to do that right, so I buy the food and stuff. I made too much, though, so I thought I would share."

"It looks good. Thanks."

"You're welcome." She waited. After this, she didn't know what she thought she was going to say.

After a pause, during which he stared at the food, he remembered something. "Oh. Sorry about the other day."

"Hm? Oh, at the diner? Don't worry about it, it didn't bother me. Who was that guy, anyways?"

"Went to school together. He became a drunk, I guess, went into rehab a few times. Didn't expect to see him again, especially not that way."

She did not let on that she noticed the sudden lack of a few pronouns. "Ah." She nodded. "Was he a friend of yours before?"

"No."

She went quiet. His voice had gotten a decimal deeper. She should probably change the subject now. She didn't know how to do this though, so it was a welcome thing that a comic book a young black boy had been reading near the stand blew by her. She chased it down a few paces, grabbed it, and glanced at it. Something to do with some guy on a ship or something. She handed it back to the kid, who thanked her, while the man who ran the stand grumbled something about almost loosing money that way. "Well, anyways, I better go before the wind blows me over, I don't want to lose my wallet. It was nice talking to you. Keep the stuff, we don't really need it!" She waved and went on her way, leaving Walter to carefully put the pasta back in it's bag, still vaguely touched by the small gesture of kindness. It went unnoticed that she had spoken about Daniel in a way that suggested she had already mentioned him to him, even though she never had.

"So, who was that, huh?"

"Hm?" Walter looked up at the man to whom the stand belonged.

"First time I've seen you talk to anybody like that. Pretty girl, too. Friend of yours?"

"Oh. Uh... Yes. She's a friend."

A sly chuckle met that response. "You say that now, but it ain't what you want. Be careful around her, it's always the pretty ones. And young, too, that's a dangerous combo. Make you go crazy sometime."

Walter didn't know what to say to this, so he just smiled a tiny, barely there smile, and continued his rounds, sticking the paper bag in his pocket.

He would later discover that she made some damn good pasta.

#

Two weeks, now. It had been two weeks since he began to notice it. Someone was following him during his rounds. They were very good at hiding, because every time he looked, they were gone from his sight, but they were there. Rorschach did not like being followed. The problem was, though, that whoever it was let off after two or three hours. They never followed him home, nor did it feel like they hesitated before turning back. They didn't help, nor hinder his progress, and they didn't follow him home, but he _felt_ them there. Perhaps Daniel was right, and he _had_ gotten paranoid? He had related too many conspiracy theories to his friend, he thought.

On top of this, Alex had been bringing Walter a lot of food lately, each time something else, and equally good. Usually Italian, although she had made him some homemade chicken pot pie once or twice. Equally good. It had been... strange. Tonight, however, he would do nothing. Two weeks was a long time, but they were bound to make a mistake sooner or later, and then he could deal with them as he pleased. So he waited as patiently as he could, and decided to visit Daniel tomorrow. The last time someone had been following him, they had been following Daniel, also. It was part of an elaborate plan that had been made to assassinate all of the Watchmen in action at the time. It had, however, been foiled, and that was that. So he had no ill will toward this idea yet, unless it got to his friends. He went home, awaiting the other half of the dinner Alex had brought him, enough for two sittings. As expected, the feeling of being followed stopped.

#

The next day he arrived at Daniels' house before it got dark, since that was when his shadow seemed to begin to follow him. Daniel had come home early, he had noticed, and since he didn't want to lead a stalker here, he donned his face and coat early, stuck to secluded areas, and moved along. As expected, he thought it was another one of his paranoid ideas.

"How can you be sure somebody is following you if you never see them?"

"Can feel it," he said around a mouthful of beans, "Don't need to see them. Also, once they knocked over a trashcan lid, and ran. Couldn't see where they ducked off to."

"You're sure it wasn't a stray cat?"

"Hurm. Cats don't wear shoes."

"Ah. Okay, fine, then. But, still..." He was cut off by a thump from somewhere off in the direction of the old training room. Instinctively, they both tensed at the unexpected sound.

"Someone here?"

"The only other person here is Alex, but I thought she'd be asleep. And she doesn't usually go in there."

They looked at each other, confused, and continued to listen. There were a few thumps again, and a couple grunts, but it sounded like one person. Dan licked his lips, and, very carefully, he made his way toward the door. It was ajar, and he pushed it open slowly, and looked around. The lights were on, and... And he relaxed. He smiled. He turned to Rorschach, who was standing in a defensive pose behind him, waiting, and nodded for him to come on over and look. He did, feeling a bit confused, but only letting half his guard down. "I think we just found out who's following you and why. Look familiar?"

He stared and what Dan gestured to. Yes, they did look familiar, very much so, those moves. They were his. Off to the side, locked in concentration and listening to rock music, was Alex. She had gotten out three training dummies, surrounded herself with them, and was kicking, punching and elbowing them in rapid succession. Just like Rorschach. She had been so determined that she followed him at night, watched what she saw, and then practiced it here when her uncle wasn't home.

For the first time in a very long time, Rorschach was so surprised that he actually smiled.

A/N: TA-DA! There you have it. Sorry I sped up the chapter so much, but I couldn't think of a way to get up to the part this ends on, so I had to. At least you know what's going on now, though, right? YAY! Anyways, so that was that, and thanks for reading! Ta! ~NS~


	11. Chapter 11

Yoness! I would apologize for my lateness, but you guys must be used to that already... Yeah, sorry about that... In any case! So... I'm glad I still have fans out there, and I love you all and stuff! I'll just continue on with the chapter for ya.

11

It was, of course, at that point that he decided to teach her after all. She had been determined enough to follow him this whole time, regardless of the fact that he could have killed her at any given point in time. Determination was important in anyone who wished to fight for any reason. Made them useful.

She hadn't noticed them yet. So, he and Daniel sat and waited. She was very good, and had gotten all the basics. It was when she kicked so hard at one of the dummies that she broke the arm off it that it surprised him and made her uncle laugh. In the middle of frantically trying to find how to put the thing back on, she heard that, and spun around. She looked shocked. "Um, uh, I can fix this." She pointed at it. "Uh... Got any duct tape?"

"Don't worry about it, it's been broken before," said Daniel, moving aside and revealing who was behind him, "By him."

"Impressive. Have been following me to learn all that?"

Her mouth opened and partially shut several times before she could speak. When she did, it was in a resigned tone. "Sorry..."

"What for? Managed to hide from me very well. Might as well say I'm surprised. Where did you learn that?"

She blushed, although she did seem to feel better now that he hadn't yelled at her. "That's kind of weird..." When all she got was a look, she said, "It comes from playing hide and seek with the little kids all the time back in Maine. When you've been doing that most of your life, you learn something."

"Hurm. Alright. Will try to teach you, but don't think I would be very good at it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, there you go," Dan said, having remained silent the whole time simply to see what conversation would take place. She had mentioned it to him, but she had just said that he had said no. It did make him feel a bit neglectful, though, since this whole time he hadn't once noticed that she had been going out at night.

It was almost immediately after this that he and Rorschach were both surprised very much, because she was so glad to be taught by the man that she hugged him. Seeing this Dan winced, waiting for a shove that didn't come. Huh.

#

_Rorschachs' journal, August 10, 1983._

_Have gotten myself in a predicament. Have agreed to teach Dreibergs' niece how to fight. Am worried about why she wants me to, though. Can't think of any reasons why a person would want to be around me this much. Awkward. Not used to the attention._

_Also, have begun to suspect that she is aware of Walter. Is aware that I am Walter during day. Can't figure out how I know this, but have begun to wonder. Thus far, however, she has made no move to disclose the information to anyone, not even Dreiberg. Has not tried to blackmail me, and has made no hints that she knows it. Am very confused. If a person were to have that information, why not disclose it? Ruin me? Would have thought that was what one would do. Perhaps she is waiting for something? Can't believe that it wouldn't matter to her. Am probably right all the same. It might not. Why, though?_

_Have closed down the sex trade ring. Have more time left to rid the streets of lesser scum. Have time to teach for a bit. May as well, or I might never find out if she knows, or why, if she does, she hasn't said a word to anyone, or even why she wants to learn to fight at all. Am unnaturally curious about this. That worries me. I should not be curious about her at all. Need to be careful, so as not to ruin myself._

#

Alex was clearly very anxious to start, and was waiting eagerly for Rorschach to show up. Dan laughed. She couldn't sit still very well. "Excited, are we?"

"I can't help it. I think this should be fun."

"Fun? _How_ much have I told you about him?"

She smiled at him. "I know what to expect. I think it'll be fun."

"Whatever you say. But I'll warn you, he is kind of stubborn."

"How nice of you to say so, Daniel," said a voice from the door.

"Rorschach! Can't you ever come in less quietly? One of these days you're gonna give me a heart attack!"

This statement was carefully ignored, and instead, he returned the greeting he got from Alex. "Are ready to go?"

"Yup."

"Alright. Follow me. We'll go onto the roof. Less likely to be seen there, and have more room."

"'Kay." She got up and followed him out. "Bye, Uncle Danny!"

"See you." He didn't like being happy to see them leave, but he was. Adrian was coming over for coffee. Normally, he would have no problem with Alex being there, but Rorschach did not get along with many people, and Adrian was one of them. Come to think of it, Adrian had been inviting him over a lot lately, and if Alex was home at the time, she would come to, but even though that was odd enough on it's own, it was even more odd for Adrian to come and see _him_. It was very rare that he left the place Dan had dubbed his 'safe house', and even more rare that he came out to places like this... Should he be worried?

#

"Here," said Rorschach, stopping over what would probably be Daniels' living room. After the attic, of course. "This will be fine." They hadn't gone very far, only far enough away from the stairs that they were still within sight, but just smaller. It was best to remain near any possible exits, just in case. Normally, he would simply have gone wherever he felt like, and grappled down or up as needed, but he was with Alex, and it was best to stick to ways she would easily be able to go. He would teach her how to disappear quickly later.

"Okay." she said, and stood waiting, wondering what he expected her to do, or if she should do anything at all before he said something about it.

"Left or right?"

"Huh?"

"Your hands. Are you left-handed or right-handed?"

"Oh. Right. I'm right-handed."

"Then that will be your offense. Left, defense."

"'Kay."

"Show me how you think you should stand."

"Um... Okay..." She stood in the best defensive pose she could do. She hadn't really payed any attention to the posing...

He walked around her. "Hurm. Straighter."

She straightened herself.

"Put your legs a little further apart. And move your left one a little in front. No, too far. Too obvious. Closer than that. Good. Lift this arm here, and lower this one." He stopped walking around her and stood in front of her. "Now. How fast are your reflexes?"

"I'm... Not sure. Average, I think."

"Let's see, then."

He didn't know why he did it. He really didn't. Since he was not experienced as a teacher, he supposed it was simply his nature kicking in. He threw a punch. It wasn't a hard punch, he had enough control over it so that it wasn't particularly dangerous, it was just enough to knock her back and leave a bruise. But it was still a punch. She went sprawling. "Not fast enough."

"Guess not," she said, and, to his surprise, she simply stood up and did nothing else. She had a bit of tears in her eyes, but he was sure it was just because they were watering form the pain, not because she was crying or anything. He hadn't expected her to cry, in any case. And she wasn't. She simply waited, placing herself into the position he had told her to stand in again. That was surprising. It meant that she had fully expected him to be more physical in his teaching than anything else. She had gotten so used to him that she knew what to expect. And he thought she would be mad at him...

"Hurm. That will be easy to work on. Will be faster soon enough." She smiled. "But your defense was off. Wrong move to use in that case. Here." He moved into his own defensive position. "Try to punch me."

She hesitated, not really wanting to hurt him, although she knew she wouldn't be able too, no matter where or how hard she hit him. She wasn't strong enough. But, she tried. She took a breath, moved, and swung, mimicking the punch he'd just used as best she could. It was blocked. "Don't think. Just do. Don't worry about me, just punch. And watch how I block it." She swung again. Her fist slammed into his arm. "Harder than that." She swung again. "Still not fast enough, or hard enough. Again." She rolled her eyes, and went to hit him again. "Still not good enough." Again, she punched, and again, he told her it wasn't good enough, or fast enough. Three more times and she _really_ wanted to hit him. It was blocked again, but the block was immediately followed up by another swing, which... She ducked under. And her fist hit his stomach. What shocked her most about this was that it had been entirely reflexive. She hadn't thought about it at all.

He stood. "Good. Now you've got it."

"I do?"

"Not all of it."

"I know that..."

"But it still isn't hard enough, and it's still too slow."

#

When Alex came back inside, she was a bit bruised up, and tired. Rorschach didn't even look like he had broken a sweat. "You didn't have to _actually_ hit her, did you?"

"Didn't injure her badly. Her block is off."

Alex was sitting in the middle of the couch, annoyed at her uncle for insisting that he put something on the cut at the corner of an eye. She now knew why it annoyed Rorschach so much to be babied, it wasn't very pleasant. "I'm fine, Uncle Danny."

"You _are_ bleeding," said Adrian, who was still there. He was standing nearby, looking mildly amused at the scene before him. Jerk.

"Has picked up the moves well, but she still isn't strong enough to do any major damage. Can work on that."

"Yeah, yeah," Alex said, pushing Dans' hand away for the umpteenth time.

"I'm almost done, hold still..." He started on the cut again, and she knew it didn't need as much attention as he was giving it. She was pretty sure he was just annoyed with the fact that Rorschach had hit his niece, even if he was only teaching her how to fight and hadn't meant it to be anything more than educational. This was true. He _was_ annoyed. However, it was best not to get into a fight with him, he could easily win, after all.

"Well, since I see you're all quite busy, I suppose I should be going back, now, lest anyone worries..." Adrian finished his coffee, and, as politely as he could but still managing to look like a dick doing it, put the cup down on the table and proceeded to the door. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay later... I hope you feel better in the morning, Alex, nice to see you."

"Nice to see you, too," she said, trying to put on a polite smile while her uncle was still fretting over her face. He got up, though, to see Adrian to the door. After telling her to hold a cloth on that while he did so, of course. She rolled her eyes, but held it anyways.

"Rorschach," came the late farewell.

"Veidt."

They walked out of view, and once they did, Alex took off the cloth. "You know, now I see why you think being babied is annoying. He does this a lot with you too, huh?"

There was actually a chuckle.

And, you know what? She liked his laugh.

AN/ Yay! Happiness and stuff! Anyways, that's all I have to give you for right now, I'm glad you read it and all, and good night! ~NS~


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